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3   1822  01324  6467 


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C. 


B.  C.  FORBES 


Men  Who  Are  Making 
America 


Editor  '^Forbes*  Magazine* 
Author  ^^ Finance y  Business,  and  the  Business  of  Life* 


B.  C.  Forbes  Publishing  Co. 

Equitable  Building 

New  York 


Copyright,  iQi6-igi7,  by 
B.  C.  FORBES 


To 
BRUCE 


INTRODUCTION 

"How  can  I  attain  success?" 

That  is  what  every  rational  human  being  wants  to  know. 

This  book  tells  in  an  intimate  way  how  fifty  of  America's  foremost 
business  and  financial  leaders  of  the  present  day  have  climbed  the 
ladder  of  success. 

The  selection  of  the  fifty  is  based  on  the  replies  received  from  busi- 
ness men  all  over  the  country  to  the  question:  "Who  Are  Our 
Fifty  Foremost  Business  Men,  Men  Who  Are  Making  America?" 
In  all  but  a  few  instances,  based  on  geographical  or  exceptional  cir- 
cumstances, the  list  represents  those  who  were  accorded  the  highest 
number  of  votes.  Having  been  thus  singled  out  as  the  most  success- 
ful American  business  men  now  living  they  may  be  regarded  as  well 
qualified  to  speak  illuminatingly  and  helpfully  on  the  subject  of 
achievement. 

Who  are  the  fifty  men  thus  honoured  by  the  business  world? 

In  what  fields  have  they  made  their  mark? 

Are  they  moderately  young  or  are  most  of  them  elderly? 

How  many  of  them  are  native  Americans  and  how  many  were 
born  in  other  parts  of  the  world? 

Were  their  parents  in  a  majority  of  instances  poor,  moderately 
circumstanced,  or  wealthy? 

The  table  on  pages  vi-vii  furnishes  a  succinct  reply  to  these  questions. 

It  will  be  seen  that: 

24  were  bom  poor. 

17  were  born  in  moderate  circumstances. 

9  were  born  rich. 
40  were  born  in  the  United  States. 

4  were  born  in  Scotland. 

4  were  born  in  Germany. 
I  was  born  in  England. 

I  was  born  in  Canada. 
14  began  as  store  clerks. 

5  as  bank  clerks. 
4  as  grocery  boys. 

The  compilation  shatters  the  popular  idea  that  most  of  the  highest 
financial  and  business  positions  in  the  United  States  are  held  by 


VI 


INTRODUCTION 


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viil  INTRODUCTION 

young  men.  Only  four  in  the  list  are  under  fifty  years  of  age.  And 
only  a  few  of  the  others  at  fifty  would  have  won  entrance  into  any 
such  list  as  this.  Not  only  is  the  average  age  sixty-one,  but  no  fewer 
than  twelve  are  seventy  or  more. 

^There  is  encouragement  in  this  fact  for  those  earnest  workers  who 
have  not  yet  reached  places  of  conspicuous  eminence.  If  the  right 
kind  of  seed  is  being  planted,  the  fruit  may  ripen  by  and  by.  Re- 
sults are  not  always  attained  in  a  hurry. 

Indeed,  one  great  lesson  the  lives  of  these  notable  men  convey  is 
that  patience,  perseverance,  stick-to-itiveness,  and  unflagging  courage 
are  essential  qualities. 

Another  point  revealed  by  this  analysis  of  the  personnel  of  Amer- 
ica's ablest  business  leaders  is  that  neither  birth  nor  education, 
neither  nationality  nor  religion,  neither  heredity  nor  environment  are 
barriers — or  passports — to  success  in  this  land  of  liberty  and  democ- 
racy.    Worth  alone  counts.     The  only  caste  in  America  is  merit. 

The  humble  origin  of  the  majority  of  these  "Men  Who  Are  Making 
America"  would  call  for  more  comment  were  it  not  so  typical  of  the 
nation's  annals. 

My  study  of  the  careers  of  these  men  has  impressed  me  with  this 
fact:  Most  of  them  had  to  pay  the  price  of  success.  They  worked 
harder  and  longer,  they  studied  and  planned  more  assiduously,  they 
practised  more  self-denial  and  overcame  more  difficulties  than  those 
of  us  who  have  not  risen  so  far. 

How  can  one  achieve  big  things? 

What  are  the  necessary  qualifications? 

What  course  must  be  followed? 

For  a  full  answer  to  these  questions  the  reader  must  turn  to  the 
character  sketches. 

But  I  may  remark,  in  a  general  way,  that  there  would  appear  to 
be  two  sets,  or  classes,  of  qualities  calculated  to  win  success: 

First — Qualities  within  the  reach  of  all. 

Second — Qualities  attainable  only  by  those  favourably  endowed 
by  Nature. 

The  first  list  of  qualities,  if  wisely  cultivated  and  exercised,  may  be 
depended  upon  to  earn  at  least  a  moderate  measure  of  success. 

But,  as  a  rule,  some  of  the  qualities  in  the  second  category  are 
requisite  for  the  attainment  of  such  exceptional  success  as  has  been 
achieved  by  many  of  the  men  whose  records  are  outlined  in  this  book. 

Among  the  qualities  all  may  weave  into  the  fabric  of  their  character 
may  be  enumerated:  Integrity,  self-denial,  sincerity,  industry, 
sobriety,  self-culture,  cheerfulness,  self-reliance,  good  temper,  cour- 
age, stick-to-itiveness,  confidence,  concentration,  steadfastness,  loy- 
alty, ambition,  optimism,  politeness. 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

The  rarer  and  higher  qualities,  not  within  reach  of  every  brain, 
include:  Foresight,  statesmanship,  generalship — ability  to  select, 
to  lead,  and  to  inspire  other  men;  great  mental  and  physical  stamina; 
superior  judgment,  abnormal  memory,  willingness  to  incur  large-scale 
risks  adjudged  capable  of  being  turned  to  profitable  account,  per- 
sonal magnetism,  dynamic  force,  imagination,  commonsense. 

Says  Shakespeare: 

"  'Tis  not  in  mortals  to  command  success; 
We  will  do  more — deserve  it." 

My  observation  and  investigation  have  convinced  me  that  nine 
times  in  ten  success  is  won  by  those  who  deserve  to  win  it.  Dame 
Fortune  is  not  so  capricious  as  superficial  indications  sometimes  would 
suggest:  fame,  responsibility,  and  (uninherited)  wealth  usually  seek 
shoulders  broad  enough  to  bear  them  worthily.  The  little  man  can- 
not continue  to  fill  a  big  place  creditably. 

It  is  not  always  true  that  "What  man  has  done,  man  can  do.'* 
Not  every  man  is  so  constituted  that  he  could  become  a  Rockefeller 
or  an  Edison. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  character  sketches  here  presented  abun- 
dantly prove  that  in  this  land  of  opportunity  no  normal  person  need 
fail  because  of  early  handicaps  of  birth  or  environment. 

My  main  object  in  writing  these  brief  biographies  of  notable  doers 
is  to  inspire  and  assist  the  millions  of  ambitious,  clean,  forceful,  dili- 
gent young  men  who  are  bending  their  energies,  physical,  mental, 
and  moral,  to  make  their  way  in  the  world,  to  become  useful,  construc- 
tive citizens,  to  leave  behind  them  a  worthy  heritage. 

Let  me  meet  possible  misdirected  criticism  by  explaining  in  the 
clearest  terms  that  these  character  sketches  are  confined  to  financial 
and  business  men  and  do  not  include  any  of  America's  innumerable 
men  of  national  and  international  eminence  in  statesmanship,  science, 
education,  art,  literature,  medicine,  etc.  Nor  are  there  any  railroad 
giants  in  this  list,  as  it  is  my  purpose  to  devote  a  separate  volume  to 
them. 

Objection  may  be  raised  that  the  dollar  apparently  has  been  used 
almost  exclusively  as  the  yardstick  in  measuring  success. 

In  the  nature  of  things,  the  man  who  creates  or  builds  up  a  mighty 
financial,  industrial,  mining,  or  commercial  organization  usually 
makes  money,  often  a  great  deal  of  it.  In  business,  profit  is  the  re- 
ward of  successful  achievement. 

But  the  man  who  sets  up  money-making  as  his  primary,  his  sole 
goal,  who  subverts  everything  to  that  end,  seldom  fulfils  his  narrow, 
Midas-like  ambition. 

It  is  not  money  but  the  joy  of  achievement,  the  joy  of  creating,  of 


3t  INTRODUCTION 

developing  something,  that  spurs  on  most  men  who  become  factors 
of  the  first  importance  in  the  business  world. 

Providence  would  seem  to  have  ordained  that  the  man  who  serves 
most  shall  reap  most. 

Success  is  coming  to  be  spelt  Service. 

The  success  that  consists  only  of  dollars  is  no  longer  accounted 
worth-while  success. 

Unless  the  men  in  this  volume  (with  few  exceptions)  had  a  higher 
title  to  recognition  than  the  size  of  their  bank  accounts,  they  would 
not  have  been  honoured  by  their  fellow  business  men  throughout  the 
country  as  the  finest  specimens  of  "Men  Who  Are  Making  America." 

Most  of  them  have  been  instrumental  in  providing  employment 
on  a  large  scale  and  at  wages  sufficient  to  enable  the  workers  to  be- 
come self-respecting  citizens,  able  to  marry  and  to  raise  families  in 
rational  comfort.  Without  men  of  this  calibre,  without  stalwarts 
capable  of  organizing  and  successfully  conducting  business  enter- 
prises, no  nation  can  long  hold  its  place  in  the  world.  To  become 
and  remain  prosperous  and  powerful  a  modern  nation  must  have  a 
thriving  population  and  such  foreign  trade  outlets  as  only  brainy 
commercial  and  financial  leaders  of  international  vision  can  open  up 
and  conquer. 

The  United  States  owes  much  to  its  idealists,  to  its  dreamers, 
to  its  cloistered  intellectuals,  to  those  calm,  reasoning  souls  who 
point  to  higher  things  and  refuse  to  be  engulfed  in  the  maelstrom  of 
materialism.  But  other  peoples  have  achieved  more  in  these  philo- 
sophic realms.  It  is  not  our  achievements  in  abstract  thought  that 
have  won  us  a  unique  place  among  the  nations. 

Our  greatest  distinction  has  been  won  by  actions,  not  words,  by 
deeds,  not  dreams,  by  concrete. accomplishment,  not  airy  theorizing. 
The  world  can  match  our  statesmen  and  philosophers  and  poets  and 
artists  and  composers  and  authors. 

But  no  nation  can  match  our  galaxy  of  doers,  our  giants  of  indus- 
try, transportation,  commerce,  finance,  and  invention. 

What  other  land  could  bracket  names  with  such  of  our  twentieth- 
century  titans  as  Hill  and  Harriman;  Morgan,  Edison,  Carnegie,  Bell 
and  Vail;  Frick,  Gary,  Schwab  and  Farrell;  Ford  and  Willys;  Duke, 
Eastman,  Rosenwald,  Paterson,  Keith  and  Woolworth;  the  McCor- 
micks,  the  Armours  and  Wilson;  Goethals,  Guggenheim,  Hammond, 
Ryan  and  Nichols;  to  say  nothing  of  our  leaders  in  international 
finance.? 

Old  World  heroes  too  often  have  been  destructionists. 

New  World  heroes  are  constructionists. 

It  is  my  hope  that  these  sketches,  brief,  fragmentary,  and  light 
though  they  necessarily  are,  will  do  something  to  modify  the  too- 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

general  impression  that  "Oh,  the  rich  guys  were  lucky;  we  weren't. 
That's  the  only  difference."  I  have  tried  to  give  in  specific  detail 
some  of  the  difficulties  encountered  by  these  men  and  to  explain 
exactly  how  they  overcame  them,  for  by  so  doing  I  believe  something 
will  be  done  to  promote  understanding  between  the  less  successful 
and  the  successful. 

So  common  throughout  the  volume  is  the  story  of  early  struggles 
sufficient  to  daunt  and  drive  to  despair  the  average  human  being 
that  the  sub-title  might  well  be  the  motto  of  Kansas:  "Ad  astra  per 
aspera" — Through  difficulties  to  the  stars. 

The  extent  of  the  interest  aroused  by  the  serial  publication  of  the 
articles  in  Leslie's  has  been  deeply  gratifying;  indeed,  that  periodi- 
cal stated  editorially  that  no  series  ever  printed  by  it  in  its  long 
history  had  attracted  so  much  attention  and  comment  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  country. 

So  numerous  have  been  the  requests  to  issue  the  sketches  in  perma- 
nent form  that  I  offer  no  apology  for  bringing  forward  this  volume. 
It  contains  quite  a  few  biographies  never  before  written  from  authen- 
tic, original  material  owi.  2^  to  the  aversion  of  the  subjects  to  talking 
for  publication;  only  the  conviction  that  the  telling  of  their  life- 
stories  frankly  and  fully  might  serve  to  hearten  others  induced  these 
men  to  narrate  their  experiences. 

Were  I  not  confident  that  the  volume  will  have  some  inspirational 
value  I  would  not  have  troubled  to  write  it.  The  preparation  of 
a  series  of  real  romances  in  financial  and  business,  though  of  some 
current  and  perhaps  hiitoric  interest,  would  not  have  justified  the 
time,  the  labour,  the  patience,  and  the  diplomacy  which  have  been 
necessary  to  accomplish  the  task.  It  took  from  six  months  to  a  full 
year  to  induce  more  than  one  of  the  subjects  to  say  one  word  about 
their  careers.  In  a  few  cases,  as  will  appear  from  the  articles,  there 
was  no  personal  interview,  so  that  the  information  in  such  instances — 
including,  notably,  Henry  Ford  and  George  F.  Baker — must  be 
accepted  as  second-hand. 

Wherever  possible  I  have  let  the  subjects  tell  their  own  stories 
in  their  own  words.  I  know  of  no  volume  which  enables  the  am- 
bitious young  man  to  make  the  intimate  acquaintance  of  so  many  of 
the  nation's  foremost  men  of  affairs  and  to  learn  from  their  own  lips 
the  most  useful  wisdom  their  eventful  experiences  have  taught  them. 

Please  pardon  this  too-lengthy  introduction  to  them. 


MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 


J.  OGDEN  ARMOUR 


MEN    WHO    ARE 
MAKING    AMERICA 

J.  OGDEN  ARMOUR 

JOGDEN  ARMOUR  is  at  heart  as  democratic  as  was  his  father 
and  has  larger  vision.  When  Phihp  D.  Armour  died,  sixteen 
•  years  ago,  Armour  &  Co.  did  a  business  of  ^100,000,000  a 
year;  now  they  do  $500,000,000.  And  the  brains,  the  active  directing, 
head,  the  planner  and  architect  and  developer  of  Armour  &  Co.,  is 
J.  Ogden  Armour.  He  is  not  an  ornamental  figurehead,  merely  the 
son  of  a  rich  father,  but  one  of  America's  ablest,  most  forceful  creative 
business  men. 

Since  "J.  O.,"  as  his  colleagues  call  him,  took  hold,  auxiliary  enter- 
prises have  been  built  up  doing  in  the  aggregate  more  business  than 
the  packing  house — the  Armour  Grain  Company  handles  more  grain 
than  any  other  concern  on  the  face  of  the  earth;  Armour  has  the  second 
largest  leather  business  in  the  world;  he  ranks  among  the  foremost 
manufacturers  of  fertilizers;  he  controls  more  refrigerator  and  other 
special  cars  than  any  railroad  system  in  the  country. 

J.  Odgen  Armour  is  the  largest  merchant  in  Christendom  or  heathen- 
dom. 

Also,  he  is  the  largest  individual  employer  of  workers — some 
40,000  of  them;  Armour  &  Co.  has  no  stockholders;  it  is  purely  a 
family  concern. 

Thanks  to  muckrakers,  self-seeking  government  officials,  and  misled 
newspapers,  I — doubtless  in  common  with  many  others — had  pic- 
tured Armour  as  an  aristocrat  too  proud  to  mix  with  Chicago's  Four 
Hundred,  as  an  autocrat  too  overbearing  to  join  other  leading  citizens 
in  civic  movements,  as  a  mediocre  business  man  but  possessing  sense 
enough  to  let  brainier  men  run  the  organization  bequeathed  to  him. 

How  false  were  such  conceptions!     How  unfair  such  judgments! 

I  told  Armour  very  frankly  what  my  ideas  about  him  had  been — 
after  I  found  out,  by  careful  investigation,  that  they  were  all  wrong. 
He  laughed — and  gave  me  straight-from-the-shoulder  explanations. 

"I  have  no  social  ambitions,"  he  said.  "My  ambition  is  to  run 
Armour  &  Co.  successfully  and  to  give  a  great  many  young  men  a 

3 


4  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

chance  to  make  their  way  in  the  world.  My  associates  in  the  business 
are  my  closest  friends,  my  chums.  If  it  weren't  for  the  fun  there  is  in 
working  with  them  and  being  with  them,  I  wouldn't — I  couldn't — 
stay  in  business.     Without  sentiment,  the  work  would  be  too  hard." 

Years  ago  Mr.  Armour  was  offered  ^130,000,000  for  his  company 
but  unhesitatingly  declined  it. 

"What  could  I  do  with  ^130,000,000?"  he  remarked  when  I  asked 
him  about  this  incident,  now  revealed  for  the  first  time. 

The  truth  is  that,  instead  of  feeling  too  aristocratic  to  mingle  with 
capital-S  Society,  Mr.  Armour  is  too  democratic. 

He  mentioned  sentiment  in  business. 

"Do  you  let  sentiment  enter  into  running  your  business?"  I  asked. 

"Enter  into  running  it?"  he  repeated.  "Why,  I  run  it  on  senti- 
ment. If  I  didn't,  it  would  not  be  successful — and  it  wouldn't  be 
worth  while  running.  What  is  it  that  makes  an  organization  success- 
ful? Isn't  it  the  loyalty  and  the  enthusiasm  of  the  many  men  en- 
gaged in  it?  And  how  can  any  man  inspire  these  sentiments  if  he 
has  no  sentiment  in  his  own  make-up?  No  one  man  can  run  a  big 
concern;  he  must  depend  upon  others  for  the  actual  doing  of  almost 
everything. 

"To  get  the  right  kind  of  men  we  begin  early.  We  are  more  par- 
ticular about  the  hiring  of  office-boys  than  about  any  other  thing 
connected  with  Armour  &  Co.,  for  the  office-boys  of  to-day  will  be- 
come our  department  managers  to-morrow.  We  select  them  with  that 
in  view.  Wepractically  never  go  outside  for  a  high-priced  man.  Just 
as  the  fellow  who  starts  with  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  as  a  brake- 
man  may  one  day  become  president,  so  young  men  who  start  with  us 
at  the  bottom  can  hope  to  rise  to  the  top." 

Here  let  me  digress.  Mr.  Armour  happened  to  remark  one  day, 
in  the  hearing  of  a  bright  youth,  that  one  of  his  greatest  pleasures  in 
life  was  developing  young  men. 

"Mr.  Armour,"  spoke  up  the  youth,  "you  need  not  look  any  fur- 
ther.    You  can  start  right  here,"  pointing  to  himself. 

Mr.  Armour  did  start  right  there.  To-day  the  youth  is  vice- 
president  of  Armour  &  Co.,  Mr.  Armour's  right-hand  man  and  most 
trusted  associate,  Robert  J.  Dunham?  director  in  Chicago  banking 
and  business  enterprises  and  having  the  income  of  a  prince — all  at  40! 

I  walked  through  every  department  at  Armour's  and  I  believe  the 
average  age  of  the  executive  heads  is  under  rather  than  over  40. 
When  men  grow  old  enough  to  enjoy  a  life  of  leisure  they  retire  on 
pension. 

Mr.  Armour  is  53 — past.  I  called  him  54,  as  he  was  born  in  1863, 
but  he  objected. 

"Don't  make  me  worse  than  I  am,"  he  protested,  smiling.     "I 


J.  OGDEN  ARMOUR  5 

never  realized  I  was  anything  but  a  young  fellow  until  one  day  I  was 
late,  for  some  reason  or  other,  in  reaching  the  stockyard.  I  used  to 
get  there  by  eight,  but  this  morning  it  was  half  past.  One  office-boy, 
who  didn't  see  me,  looking  up  at  the  clock  as  I  was  passing,  said  to 
another:  'I  wonder  what's  become  of  the  old  man  this  morning!* 
The  'old  man  I'     It  stabbed  me." 

The  world  was  accustomed  to  expect  epigrams  and  all  sorts  of 
sage  sayings  from  the  original  Armour.  But  nobody,  so  far  as  I  know, 
has  ever  publicly  attributed  a  like  ability  to  the  son. 

Well,  he  has  it.  Read,  for  example,  these  sentences,  dropped  by 
him  in  course  of  our  very  informal,  heart-to-heart  talk: 

"Business  can  no  longer  be  done  with  a  club  but  with  a  chemist — 
and  a  lawyer." 

"The  most  valuable  ability  of  all  is  the  ability  to  select  men  of 
ability." 

"The  richer  and  bigger  you  are,  the  more  considerate  you  have  to 
be  of  other  people's  feelings  if  you  are  to  succeed  in  taking  the  curse 
off  being  rich." 

"The  man  who  handles  himself  right  is  the  man  who  puts  himself 
on  the  level  of  the  man  he  is  with." 

"The  world  is  a  worse  place  for  a  young  man  with  a  lot  of  money 
than  for  one  without  any." 

"I  have  known  a  lot  of  men  who  were  good  men  when  they  had  no 
great  amount  of  money  but  who  let  riches  go  to  their  head  and  make 
poor  men  of  them." 

"I  don't  worry.  Worry  kills  more  people  than  ever  hard  work 
killed." 

"There  is  luck  in  the  world.  There  may  be  luck  in  getting  a  good 
job — but  there's  no  luck  in  keeping  it." 

Unlike  some  rich  men's  sons,  J.  Ogden  Armour  is  a  worker.  For 
many  years  he  was  at  the  packing  house  by  eight  o'clock  every  busi- 
ness morning.  He  began  at  the  bottom;  pay,  $8  a  week.  He  learned 
the  business  in  the  stern  school  of  experience — his  intrepid  father  saw 
to  that.  And  as  "J.  O."  says  in  his  well-written  book,  "The  Packers 
and  The  People,"  the  slaughtering,  dressing,  and  packing  of  swine, 
cattle,  and  sheep  is  no  parlour  game. 

Later,  when  he  became  the  directing  head,  he  used  to  receive  at 
his  home,  by  seven  o'clock  every  morning,  detailed  reports  of  the  live- 
stock receipts  at  all  the  principal  centres  in  the  country  and,  after 
carefully  analyzing  the  whole  national  and  international  situation, 
decide  upon  the  general  buying  programme  for  the  day. 

Let  me  relate  another  incident,  one  that  Mr.  Armour  will  be  sur- 
prised to  read  in  this  article,  for  he  does  not  know  I  ferreted  out  the 
facts. 


6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Britain's  declaration  of  war  had  stampeded  financial  America. 
The  New  York  Stock  Exchange  was  afraid  to  open  the  flood-gates. 
Virtually  every  other  exchange  in  the  land  was  closed.  The  banks 
were  clamouring  for  emergency  currency,  clearing-house  certificates, 
and  other  panic  appurtenances.  Savings  banks  suspended  cash 
payments. 

The  bottom  had  fallen  out  of  everything. 

No,  not  everything.  The  Chicago  Board  of  Trade — the  famous 
"Grain  Pit" — remained  open,  was  subjected  to  a  terrific  bombard- 
ment, but  weathered  the  storm  zinthout  one  grain-trade  failure. 

The  newspapers  carried  black  headlines  telling  how  George  E. 
Marcy,  president  of  the  Armour  Grain  Company,  had  heroically  saved 
the  day,  first  by  fighting  against  the  closing  of  the  board,  and  then, 
when  pandemonium  broke  loose  and  grain  prices  began  to  soar,  by  sell- 
ing first  one  million,  then  another  million  bushels  of  wheat  at  prices 
which  prevented  quotations  from  rising  more  than  two  to  three  cents 
a  bushel — contrasted  with  opening  skyrocketing  to  the  extent  of  eight 
cents  a  bushel  at  Minneapolis.     Marcy  was  proclaimed  a  hero. 

"Yes,"  admitted  Mr.  Marcy  when  I  quizzed  him  about  the  events 
of  that  exciting  day,  "I  did  go  into  the  market  and  sell  two  or  three 
million  bushels  of  grain  to  keep  the  market  from  running  away — but 
I  advised  with  Mr.  Armour  over  the  telephone  early  that  morning 
and  I  did  nothing  but  carry  out  his  instructions." 

Mr.  Marcy  added  this  other  bit  of  heretofore  unwritten  history: 

"Mr.  Armour  also  told  me  to  step  in  and  take  care  of  anybody  who 
might  need  help.  I  replied:  'You  are  assuming  a  great  risk.  Some 
may  fail.'  Mr.  Armour  repeated:  'Go  ahead  and  help  any  you  can. 
Go  to  the  banks  with  people  who  are  good  and  arrange  to  have  them 
tided  over.'  I  did — and  not  a  single  failure  occurred  in  the  grain 
trade.     This  was,  of  course,  Mr.  Armour's  idea,  not  mine." 

One  writer,  familiar  with  the  facts  rather  than  the  fiction  concern- 
ing the  Armour  family,  has  said:  "J.  Ogden  Armour  would  be  the 
last  to  acknowledge  that  he  has  outstripped  his  father  as  an  originator, 
a  creator,  an  economist,  and  a  financier.     But  such  is  the  fact." 

A  prominent  Chicago  business  man  told  me:  "'J.  O.'  has  quadru- 
pled the  business  that  his  father  built  up.  'P.  D.'  was  not  so  opti- 
mistic, not  so  farseeing,  not  so  ready  to  dare  as  his  son.  The  son  has 
gone  beyond  what  his  father  would  have  approved  in  branching  out. 
He  has  done  it  because  of  his  extraordinary  belief  in  the  development 
of  this  country.  'J.  O.'  himself  has  said,  'The  country  has  grown 
up  to  help  me  out  of  the  hole  when  I  seemed  to  have  planned  too  far 
ahead.'" 

The  present  Mr.  Armour  would  subscribe  to  no  such  analysis,  for 
few  sons  have  so  much  reverence  for  a  father. 


J.  OGDEN  ARMOUR  7 

Mr.  Armour's  modesty,  indeed,  is  chiefly  responsible  for  his  having 
been  misunderstood  by  a  majority  of  the  people.  He  shuns  inter- 
viewers— "I  had  hoped  to  dodge  you,"  he  frankly  told  me  when  I 
waylaid  him;  "I  told  Dunham  to  steer  you  off." 

You  never  read  of  Mr.  Armour  appearing  in  public  and  making  a 
speech.  "Because  I  happened  to  be  born  a  rich  man,  I  don't  feel 
that  that  entitles  me  to  foist  my  views  on  other  people,"  he  explained. 
"My  father  once  said  to  me:  'You  have  to  take  the  curse  off  being  a 
rich  man.'  I  have  tried  in  my  own  way  not  to  aggravate  the  offence 
of  being  a  rich  man  or  a  rich  man's  son." 

On  civic  and  other  committees  formed  to  deal  with  important  prob- 
lems Mr.  Armour  often  does  much  real  work,  but  always  outside 
the  range  of  the  limelight. 

Society  doesn't  appeal  to  him.  He  divides  his  time  between  his 
business  and  his  home,  presided  over  by  his  wife,  formerly  Miss  Lolita 
Sheldon.  He  is  intensely  fond  of  his  only  child,  a  daughter  of  about 
21,  who,  it  may  be  recalled,  was  a  cripple  until  Mr.  Armour  brought 
over  the  famous  Dr.  Lorenz  of  Vienna,  who  operated  upon  her  suc- 
cessfully and  whose  services  were  placed  by  Mr.  Armour  at  the  dis- 
posal of  other  children  in  the  country  similarly  afflicted,  an  offer  of  which 
boys  and  girls  from  as  far  off  as  the  Pacific  Coast  availed  themselves. 

The  affection  existing  between  Mr.  Armour  and  his  mother  is 
beautiful.  No  matter  how  pressing  business  affairs  may  be,  he  never 
allows  her  to  leave  Chicago  without  him,  and  he  insists  also  upon  jour- 
neying to  wherever  she  may  be  visiting  to  accompany  her  home.  It 
was  of  this  estimable  lady  that  the  late  Philip  D.  Armour  said,  "My 
culture  is  mostly  in  my  wife's  name."  From  Belle  Ogden — his 
mother's  maiden  name — J.  Ogden  has  inherited  his  unassuming 
characteristics. 

Mr.  Armour  has  no  false  pride  concerning  the  humble  origin  and 
early  struggles  of  his  father.  He  recounted  to  me  how  his  father, 
when  only  19,  set  off  from  his  home  in  the  village  of  Stockbridge, 
N.  Y.,  in  company  with  three  other  men,  determined  to  walk  all  the 
way  to  California  to  make  their  fortunes  in  the  then  new  gold  fields — 
this  was  in  185 1.  One  of  the  four  died,  two  others  turned  back,  but 
Philip  Armour  tramped  on  and  reached  the  coast  in  six  months! 
His  first  job  was  digging  ditches  at  ^5  a  day  and  ^10  a  night — and 
oftener  than  once  he  worked  day  and  night.  By  and  by  he  took  con- 
tracts to  dig  ditches  and  in  five  years  had  saved  $8,000.  With  this 
fortune  he  returned  with  visions  of  marrying  his  village  sweetheart 
and  buying  a  farm,  but,  alas!  she  had  married  a  worthy  horse  doctor. 

On  his  way  home,  Milwaukee  impressed  him  as  an  ideal  centre 
for  doing  business,  since  it  caught  the  streams  of  traffic  and  people 
crossing  and  recrossing  the  continent.     There  young  Armour,  in  1859, 


8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

formed  a  produce  and  commission  business  partnership  with  Fred 
B.  Miles.  Each  contributed  as  capital  the  humble  sum  of  $500 — the 
original  partnership  agreement  now  hangs  in  the  son's  office  as  one  of 
his  most  cherished  possessions.  Smoked  and  pickled  meats  being  in 
demand  by  travellers  and  others,  young  Armour  later  switched  to  that 
line,  as  junior  partner  of  John  Plankinton,  the  then  largest  packer  in 
America.  Then  came  the  Civil  War  with  its  pressing  calls  for 
huge  quantities  of  preserved  meats  and  Plankinton  &  Armour 
prospered. 

Chicago  having  outstripped  Milwaukee  as  a  growing  commercial 
centre  after  the  war.  Armour,  with  characteristic  foresight,  moved  to 
that  city  in  1870  and,  with  two  brothers,  formed  Armour  &  Co.,  the 
firm  which  to-day,  without  a  single  stockholder  outside  of  the  family, 
is  doing  a  business,  with  its  allied  enterprises,  approximating  that 
done  by  the  billion-dollar  Steel  Corporation. 

The  founder  died  in  1901,  after  one  of  the  most  picturesque,  inspir- 
ing, and  successful  careers  in  American  history.  His  younger  son, 
Philip  D.,  Jr.,  died  a  year  before  his  father.  There  were  misgivings  in 
certain  quarters  as  to  the  ability  of  the  elder  son,  J.  Ogden,  to  fill 
his  father's  shoes.  Indeed,  Armour  pere  at  one  time  pictured  no 
Napoleonic  career  for  Ogden — and  the  latter  shared  his  father's  judg- 
ment! But  long  before  he  died  the  father  had  the  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing Ogden  develop  into  a  business  man  of  the  first  calibre.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  "J.  O."  really  ran  the  business  quite  some  time  before 
his  father  passed  away,  and  he  did  It  with  a  success  that  yielded  the 
father  the  greatest  happiness  of  his  later  years. 

"I  thought  I  was  the  most  fortunate  young  man  In  the  world  when 
I  inherited  a  huge  business  and  a  good  name,"  said  Mr.  Armour  to  me 
remlnlscently.  "But  it  was  not  long  before  I  changed  my  views,  for 
I  had  nothing  but  trouble,  especially  when  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment brought  all  sorts  of  grave  charges  against  me  and  other  packers. 
I  felt  that  I  had  tried  to  run  Armour  &  Co.  honestly  and  fairly — and 
certainly  I  did  not  need  to  do  dishonest  things  to  make  money.  The 
indictments,  nevertheless,  caused  me  terrible  humiliation  and  un- 
happlness.  I  had  been  proud  of  my  father's  name  and  record,  and 
had  tried  sincerely  to  maintain  both  unsullied.  The  courts  gave  us 
a  clean  bill  of  health,  but  not  before  the  American  packing  industry 
had  been  so  vilified  that  country  after  country  shut  Its  doors  against 
American-made  products." 

Mr.  Armour  added :  "The  experience  taught  me  that  the  rich  man 
who  chooses  to  enjoy  his  riches,  without  taking  the  responsiblHtles  that 
ought  to  go  along  with  them,  is  not  much  of  a  chap." 

Armour  &  Co.  has  handsomely  made  up  the  ground  lost  by  the 
Government's  attack  upon  the  packing  business.    The  firm's  sales  are 


J.  OGDEN  ARMOUR  9 

fivefold  what  they  were  sixteen  years  ago  and  innumerable  side  lines 
have  been  successfully  established.     Read  these  figures: 

Armour  &  Co.  to-day  has  500  branches  located  in  different  coun- 
tries. 

It  has  spent  $3,500,000  on  one  foreign  plant  alone — in  Argen- 
tina. It  has  offices  and  permanent  representatives  in  forty  foreign 
cities  and  countries.  Its  foreign  business  alone  last  year  approxi- 
mated $100,000,000,  It  paid  cash  to  American  farmers  to  the 
amount  of  about  $300,000,000  last  year  for  live  stock. 

Armour  &  Co.  to-day  handles  no  fewer  than  3,000  distinct  products 
— a  transformation  from  the  days  when  Plankinton  &  Armour  sold 
nothing  but  meats. 

The  Armour  Grain  Co.,  the  largest  in  the  world,  has  constructed  in 
South  Chicago  an  elevator  holding  10,000,000  bushels,  bringing  the 
company's  total  elevator  capacity  up  to  25,000,000  bushels. 

The  Armour  Grain  Company's  lumber  sales  run  into  millions  of 
dollars  every  year,  thousands  of  farmers  finding  it  convenient  to  take 
home  prepared  lumber  when  they  bring  their  grain  to  depots. 

During  one  recent  month  14,000  visitors  went  through  the  Armour 
packing  establishment  in  Chicago,  where  every  single  operation  in 
the  killing  of  live  stock  and  the  preparation  of  the  products  is  wide 
open  for  inspection  every  day. 

Armour's  profits  last  year  averaged  less  than  three  cents  on  the 
dollar  on  its  total  business. 

Mr.  Armour  has  served  in  every  department  both  at  the  stock- 
yards and  in  the  office.  Before  he  had  finished  his  full  course  at 
Yale  Sheffield  Scientific  School  he  was  called  home  by  his  father  to 
get  into  harness.  With  fewer  vacations  than  the  average  clerk  en- 
joys, Mr.  Armour  has  been  in  harness  ever  since,  working  hours  which 
would  scandalize  trade-union  leaders! 

In  showing  me  over  the  Armour  Grain  Company  he  took  me  to  a 
room  in  which  was  a  miniature  flour  mill  and  bakery  where  an  expert 
analytical  chemist  receives  a  sample  of  every  load  of  grain  bought  by 
the  company,  ascertains  the  percentage  of  moisture  it  contains,  then 
grinds  the  sample  into  flour,  analyzes  the  food  values  of  the  flour,  then 
bakes  it  into  bread  so  that  customers  can  be  supplied  with  exactly 
the  kind  and  colour  of  grain  or  flour  they  desire.  This  scientific 
process  enables  the  company  to  sell  first  those  shipments  which 
contain  the  largest  percentage  of  moisture,  thus  saving  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  every  year,  for  the  evaporation  in  some  cases 
would  mean  one  to  two  cents  a  bushel  loss  if  the  grain  were  not 
promptly  marketed.  This  is  doing  business,  "not  with  a  club  but 
with  a  chemist." 

I  noticed  that  wherever  we  went  Mr.  Armour  was  continually 


10  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

addressing  the  employees  by  their  names,  revealing  a  real  interest  in  the 
men.  I  took  occasion  to  speak  to  numbers  of  the  workers  when  Mr. 
Armour  was  not  with  me  and  I  faund  they  regarded  him  more  as  a 
colleague  than  as  a  boss;  they  felt  that  they  were  all  working  together, 
that  they  were  working  with  rather  than /or  him.  I  could  believe  Mr. 
Armour,  therefore,  when  he  said  to  me:  "The  best  thing  about  my 
work  is  the  loyalty  of  our  people.  There  are  such  wonderful  fellows 
all  round  about  me.  If  it  weren't  for  that,  I  would  not  give  two 
cents  for  holding  on  to  Armour  &  Co.  The  boys  who  run  the  business 
with  me  make  the  work  a  pleasure." 

One  of  the  executives  told  me  that  he  had  never  seen  Mr.  Armour 
so  happy  as  when  he  visited  a  very  wonderful  farm — a  scientifically 
conducted  enterprise  of  great  magnitude — owned  by  one  of  his 
employees.  "Mr.  Armour,"  he  said,  "was  delighted  to  think  there 
were  people  connected  with  the  company  earning  and  saving  enough 
to  own  such  an  establishment." 

No  space  is  left  to  tell  adequately  of  the  Armour  family's  benefac- 
tions. The  original  Armour  spent  several  millions  on  the  famous 
Armour  Institute  of  Technology,  which  annually  turns  out  hundreds 
of  graduates  so  skilfully  trained  that  corporations  and  institutions 
clamour  to  engage  them  the  moment  they  are  ready  to  start  work. 
Several  years  ago  the  present  Mr.  Armour  and  his  mother  gave  the 
institute  an  endowment  fund  of  ^1,500,000,  while  not  long  ago  Mr. 
Armour  gave  another  $500,000.  The  running  of  the  institution  costs 
Mr.  Armour  several  thousand  dollars  every  week. 

Incidentally,  the  institute  came  into  being  through  a  sermon 
preached  in  1892  by  the  illustrious  humanitarian.  Dr.  F.  W.  Gunsau- 
lus,  on  "What  I  Would  Do  If  I  had  $1,000,000."  Dr.  Gunsaulus, 
as  president  of  the  institute,  has  been  doing  it  ever  since,  Mr. 
Armour  having  given  him  not  one  million  but  several. 

At  the  stockyards  nurses  are  kept  to  visit  not  only  the  homes  of 
Armour  employees  who  become  sick  but  to  unearth  cases  of  need 
among  other  families,  and  these  are  given  all  necessary  attention. 
"Within  half  an  hour  after  we  receive  word  in  the  winter  time  from 
one  of  our  nurses  that  some  family  is  without  coal,  a  wagon  is  on  the 
way  to  them,"  one  of  the  employees  at  the  stockyards  told  me  with 
great  pride.     "That's  the  kind  of  a  man  Mr.  Armour  is." 

When  the  United  States  entered  the  European  war  Mr.  Armour 
promptly  urged  that  all  dealings  in  foodstuffs  should  be  taken  under 
control  by  the  Government,  an  unselfish  attitude  which  caused 
chronic  critics  of  all  capitalists  to  soften  their  views.  Mr.  Armour's 
action  has  convincingly  demonstrated  that  it  is  possible  to  be  both  a 
packer  and  a  patriot. 


GEORCJE  F.  BAKER 


GEORGE  F.  BAKER 

THE  man  with  the  hardest  shell  and  the  softest  heart  in 
America/' 
Thus  did  one  of  the  country's  leading  bankers  describe 
George  F.  Baker,  the  closest  associate  of  the  late  J,  P.  Morgan  and 
to-day  the  most  powerful  national  banker  in  Wall  Street,  the  domi- 
nating director  of  more  corporations  than  any  other  man  in  the  United 
States  and  perhaps  the  third  richest  living  American. 

I  can  personally  testify  to  the  hardness  of  Mr.  Baker's  shell.  It  is 
impenetrable.  He  affects  absolute  indifference  to  how  he  is  regarded 
by  his  fellowmen. 

"It  is  none  of  the  public's  business  what  I  do,"  he  told  me,  just  as 
he  had  told  the  Pujo  Money  Trust  Committee  when  summoned  to 
the  witness  stand  at  Washington,  an  attitude  which  the  investigators 
forced  him  to  abandon. 

Did  every  financier  adopt  the  Baker  attitude  toward  the  public 
and  toward  public  opinion  there  would  be  a  revolution  in  this  republic 
in  twelve  months. 

The  free  citizens  of  a  democracy  some  years  ago  taught  capitalists  a 
lesson.  The  younger  generation  have  learned  it.  They  realize  that 
they  cannot  show  contempt  for  the  hundred  million  human  beings, 
of  as  good  flesh  and  blood  as  themselves,  who  make  up  this  common- 
wealth. The  idea  that  presidents  of  banks  handling  the  public's 
money,  that  directors  of  corporations  whose  stock  is  held  by  thou- 
sands of  public  investors,  that  overlords  of  semi-public  enterprises  can 
snap  their  fingers  at  the  public's  will,  has  been  pretty  well  drummed 
out  of  the  heads  of  most  men.  George  F.  Baker,  however,  is  the 
dean  of  the  old  school,  the  school  of  secrecy,  the  school  that  for  a  long 
time  did  not  have  to  reckon  with  the  power  of  public  opinion. 

Many  of  those  who  voted  on  the  question:  "Who  Are  Our  Fifty 
Greatest  Business  Men,  Men  Who  Are  Making  America?"  accom- 
panied their  ballots  with  letters.  One  important  publisher  sent  me 
this  comment:  "You  will  notice  that  I  have  not  included  in  my  list 
George  F.  Baker;  I  regard  him  as  nothing  but  a  money-making  ma- 
chine." 

That  is  the  general  impression  of  Mr.  Baker  among  those  not  in  a 
position  to  peer  under  his  mask,  who  know  him  only  by  his  works,  who 
never  hear  of  him  doing  a  single  generous  act,  but  see  him  only  as  the 


12  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

power  behind  many  financial,  industrial,  and  railroad  thrones,  rolling 
up  a  gigantic  fortune  and  so  conducting  the  First  National  Bank  of 
New  York  that,  by  the  aid  of  its  stockholding  adjunct,  the  First  Se- 
curity Company,  it  pours  into  the  pockets  of  its  stockholders  dividends 
of  from  50  to  70  per  cent,  or  more  a  year. 

"The  profits  of  Mr.  Baker's  bank  make  the  rest  of  us  look  like  rank 
novices  at  banking,"  declared  one  prominent  banker  the  other  day. 

Mr.  Baker  was  the  first  New  York  banker  to  conceive  the  idea  of 
doing  things  forbidden  under  the  National  Bank  Act  by  means  of  a 
separate  enterprise  whose  ownership  in  reality  was  and  is  identical 
with  that  of  the  bank  itself,  each  share  of  the  bank  simply  carrying 
with  it  a  share  in  the  "other"  enterprise.  One  could  not  be  sold 
without  the  other.     The  invention  has  proved  highly  profitable. 

The  career  of  no  prominent  American  is  more  of  a  sealed  book  than 
that  of  George  F.  Baker,  I  tried  repeatedly  to  learn  something  of 
his  early  career  from  both  professional  and  social  friends,  but  all 
In  vain. 

"I  have  met  Mr.  Baker  many  times  socially,  both  at  his  dinner 
table  and  my  own,  but  I  could  not  tell  you  anything  more  about  his 
history  than  a  total  stranger,"  one  veteran  remarked.  "He  never 
made  any  dinner  party;  I  mean  he  never  was  the  life  of  any  little  social 
function — but  he  was  the  next  best  thing:  he  was  an  excellent  listener. 
He  said  little,  but  listened  a  lot." 

When  I  sought  to  impress  upon  him  that,  for  his  descendants' 
sake,  If  not  for  his  own,  he  should  throw  off  his  business  shell  and  give 
to  the  public  a  heart-to-heart  talk  about  his  life's  work,  all  he  would 
say  was:  "Some  day  the  public  will  understand  the  truth."  I  am 
recording  these  things  because  they  give  the  only  picture  I  can  pro- 
cure of  him. 

Yet  those  who  know  Mr.  Baker  Intimately  declare  that  he  Is  the 
fairest  of  men,  that  the  public  are  mistaken  in  thinking  he  Is  Interested 
only  In  adding  to  a  fortune  of  perhaps  $150,000,000  to  $200,000,000, 
that  he  has  a  charming  personality  beneath  the  taciturn  exterior  he 
shows  to  the  masses,  and  that,  though  he  had  only  one  philanthropic 
deed  recorded  In  his  favour — a  $50,000  gift  to  Cornell  College — until 
he  gave  $1,000,000  to  the  Red  Cross,  he  Is  given  to  doing  little  char- 
itable acts. 

Speaking  of  this  $50,000  gift,  I  have  been  told  a  touching  story.  I 
record  it  because  It  Is  the  only  sidelight  of  the  kind  I  have  been  able 
to  obtain  regarding  Mr.  Baker. 

A  friend  made  a  remark  to  Mr.  Baker  about  how  gratifying  It  must 
be  for  him  to  note  how  well  the  newspapers  had  received  his  kindly  act. 

Mr.  Baker  shook  his  head  sadly.  "It  comes  too  late,"  he  re- 
marked with  a  far-away  look. 


GEORGE  F.  BAKER  13 

The  friend  realized  that  something  was  on  the  old  gentleman's  mind. 
So  he  waited.  Mr.  Baker  then  recalled  an  incident  which  his  friend 
had  witnessed  several  years  before.  Just  after  the  1907  panic  had 
been  brought  under  control,  Mr.  Baker  arrived  slightly  late  at  a 
largely  attended  meeting  at  the  Union  League  Club.  In  inner  circles 
it  was  well  known  that  Mr.  Baker  had  rendered  yeoman  service 
during  the  storm,  and  his  appearance  was  greeted  with  applause 
which  swelled  into  resounding  volume  as  he  walked  across  the  floor 
to  his  seat. 

"I  could  not  get  home  quick  enough  that  night  to  tell  her  about  It," 
remarked  Mr.  Baker  very  sadly. 

His  wife  had  died  in  the  interval. 

The  part  played  by  Mr.  Baker  during  the  1907  upheaval  was  delved 
into  by  the  Pujo  counsel,  Samuel  Untermyer,  in  191 3,  with  this 
result: 

Question. — Is  not  Mr.  Morgan  recognized  as  the  great  general  in  this  finan- 
cial army  down  in  Wall  Street? 

Mr.  Baker. — ^That  is  according  to  who  is  talking.  When  we  talk  about 
him,  as  his  friends,  we  think  he  is. 

Q. — Is  he  not  generally  so  recognized  ? 

Mr.  Baker. — I  think  so. 

Q. — And  you  and  Mr,  Stillman  are  recognized  as  his  chief  lieutenants? 

Mr.  Baker. — I  do  not  think  so;  no,  sir. 

Q. — Who  are  his  chief  lieutenants? 

Mr.  Baker. — I  do  not  know.     The  members  of  his  firm. 

Q. — Try  to  overcome  your  modesty,  Mr.  Baker. 

Mr.  Baker. — During  the  panic  I  think  Mr.  Stillman  and  I  were. 

Q. — You  will  confess  that  that  is  what  happened  during  the  panic — Mr. 
Morgan  was  the  general  and  you  and  Mr.  Stillman  were  his  lieutenants? 
-    Mr.  Baker. — Yes. 

Q.—ln  your  judgment  is  Mr.  Morgan  the  most  dominant  power  in  the 
financial  world  to-day,  far  above  everything  else? 

Mr.  Baker. — He  would  be  if  he  were  younger  in  years.  I  do  not  know  his 
superior. 

Q. — ^There  is  nobody  as  much  so  except  yourself,  is  there? 

Mr.  Baker. — ^And  yourself.     Get  us  both  in. 

Q. — How  is  that,  Mr.  Baker,  seriously? 

Mr.  Baker. — ^There  is  no  particular  dominant  power. 

Q. — When  did  there  cease  to  be  a  dominant  power? 

Mr.  Baker. — ^When  activities  ceased;  during  the  panic  it  was  so. 

How  George  F.  Baker  rose  to  be  so  great  a  power,  how  he  moved 
up  the  ladder  step  by  step,  cannot  be  told.  His  early  career  is  more 
mysterious  than  the  Sphinx — and  Mr.  Baker  is  as  silent  about  it  as 
the  Sphinx.  When  I  asked  him  for  a  few  facts  about  his  early  career, 
he  not  only  refused  to  furnish  any  information,  but,  when  I  suggested 
that  I  might  obtain  the  necessary  data  from  the  person  presumably 


14  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

in  the  best  position  to  know,  he  replied:  "He  knows  nothing  about  It." 
It  was  even  so,  for  this  man  confessed  to  me  that  he  had  never  dared 
ask  any  questions  on  the  subject.  I  next  approached  a  friend  who  has 
been  intimate  with  Mr.  Baker  for  a  generation,  but  he  held  up  his 
hands  and  exclaimed:  "The  Almighty  could  not  draw  a  word  out  of 
Baker  about  his  early  days.  I  would  gladly  tell  you  if  I  could,  but  I 
don't  know,  and  it  is  no  use  asking  him." 

When  I  turned  to  "Who's  Who  in  America"  in  the  hope  of  getting 
some  enlightenment  on  the  subject,  this  was  what  I  discovered: 

"Baker,  George  Fisher,  banker;  born,  Troy,  N,  Y.,  Mar.  27,  1840. 
Chairman  Board  First  National  Bank  of  New  York,  Jan.,  1909 — 
(ex-pres.)." 

That  was  as  far  back  as  this  publication  had  been  able  to  penetrate, 
to  1909.  Just  what  he  had  done  during  the  previous  69  years,  "Who's 
Who"  was  unable  to  record. 

There  is  a  rumour,  a  legend,  a  story,  call  it  what  you  will,  that 
George  F.  Baker  began  life  as  a  two-dollar-a-week  grocery  boy,  that 
later  he  earned  $5  a  week  as  a  night  watchman,  studied  enough  to 
qualify  as  a  bank  clerk  and  won  promotion  to  the  position  of  a  bank 
examiner  somewhere  or  other.  The  first  authentic  record  available 
about  his  career  is  that  he  took  a  hand,  along  with  John  Thompson 
and  the  latter's  two  sons,  in  forming  the  first  bank  in  New  York  under 
the  National  Bank  Act,  in  1863.  Mr.  Baker  started  as  cashier,  but  in 
four  years  annexed  the  presidency. 

A  veteran  tells  me  that  young  Baker  plunged  on  United  States  war 
bonds,  loading  the  bank  up  to  the  gunwales  with  them.  His  nerve 
won  the  admiration  of  Secretary  Chase,  who  saw  to  it  that  the  First 
National  Bank  received  every  possible  Government  favour.  It  grew. 
To-day  it  has  about  as  large  deposits  as  the  total  held  by  the  whole 
fifty-four  banks  then  operated  in  New  York  City. 

A  little  folder  sent  to  the  bank's  stockholders  to  commemorate  the 
fortieth  anniversary  of  the  founding  of  the  institution  contains  these 
sentences: 

"From  the  beginning  the  First  National  Bank  sought  the  business 
of  banks  and  bankers  and  became  the  redemption  agent  and  deposi- 
tory for  a  large  number  of  out-of-town  national  banks.  It  took  an 
active  part  in  the  negotiation  of  War  Loans,  thus  employing  a  large 
part  of  its  deposits  during  the  first  years  of  business,  the  results  of 
which  amply  rewarded  the  management  for  their  confidence  in  the 
credit  of  the  Government.  The  bank  from  the  start  took  a  leading 
position  among  dealers  in  United  States  securities,  for  itself  and  as 
representative  of  the  several  refunding  syndicates,  in  financing  the 
various  United  States  loans  issued  by  successive  administrations. 
During  the  year  1879  the  bank  handled  $780,000,000  United  States 


GEORGE  F.  BAKER  15 

Government  bonds,  completing  their  receipt  and  delivery  without 
error  or  loss." 

Mr.  Baker  was  a  member  of  the  Liberty  Loan  Committee  of  the 
present  year  (1917)  and  his  bank  distinguished  itself  by  subscribing 
for  more  bonds  than  any  other  institution  in  the  country. 

The  First  National's  total  original  capital  was  $200,000.  How 
small  a  matter  a  few  hundred  thousand  dollars  later  became  to  Mr. 
Baker  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  when  asked  by  the  Pujo 
probers  if  he  held  any  interest  in  the  Guaranty  Trust  Company, 
he  said  he  did  not  think  he  had  or,  if  he  had  any,  it  was  so  small  he 
did  not  remember  anything  about  it.  His  "small"  holding,  it  was 
brought  out,  was  worth  between  $700,000  and  $800,000!  Another 
item  of  his  fortune  amounting  to  almost  $500,000  he  forgot  entirely, 
so  small  was  it  in  his  eyes. 

Financiers  declare  that  it  has  been  Baker's  brains  that  have  made 
the  First  National  Bank  a  veritable  gold  mine — indeed,  something 
better  than  a  gold  mine,  for  gold  mines  wear  out,  whereas  Baker's 
bank,  still  humbly  furnished  as  in  days  of  old,  waxes  more  profitable 
with  age,  last  year's  (1916)  dividends  totalling  60  per  cent.,  or 
$6,000,000,  irrespective  of  the  millions  paid  by  its  alter  ego,  the 
Security  Company.  The  bank  has  paid  between  2,500  and  3,000  per 
cent,  altogether,  including  a  dividend  of  1,900  per  cent,  at  one  clip! 

It  was  in  1901  that  a  special  dividend  of  $9,500,000  was  declared 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  capital  to  $10,000,000.  Of  the  total 
100,000  shares,  Mr.  Baker  owns  20,000,  his  son  5,050  and,  Morgan  & 
Company  4,500. 

In  1908  dividends  of  126  per  cent,  were  declared,  100  per  cent,  of 
this  going  to  start  the  First  Security  Company,  which  took  over  secur- 
ities which  the  Comptroller  of  the  Currency  had  ruled  the  bank  could 
not  legally  carry.  Mr.  Baker  also  turned  into  it  some  holdings  he  had 
acquired  "in  the  interest  of  the  bank."  The  stockholders  of  the 
Security  Company  have  no  voting  rights  whatsoever;  the  thing  is 
run  entirely  by  trustees  who  are  officers  of  the  bank.  This  organiza- 
tion can  speculate  all  it  wants,  although  Mr.  Baker  told  the  Pujo 
probers  that  its  stock  transactions  did  not  average  more  than  100 
shares  a  day. 

Some  of  the  securities  which  Mr.  Baker  put  into  this  pot  were 
50,000  shares  of  the  Chase  National  Bank,  5,400  of  the  National  Bank 
ot  Commerce,  2,500  of  the  Bankers'  Trust  Company,  928  of  the 
Liberty  National  Bank,  500  shares  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 
Minneapolis,  and  smaller  amounts  of  the  New  York  Trust  Company, 
the  Astor  Trust  Company,  the  Brooklyn  Trust  Company,  etc. 

Mr.  Baker's  sphere  of  influence  extended  not  only  to  these  institu- 
tions, but  he  became  a  power  in  the  Guaranty  Trust  Company,  in  the 


i6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  with  its  hundreds  of  millions  of 
assets,  to  say  nothing  of  a  long  string  of  railroads,  including  the 
Lackawanna,  Lehigh  Valley,  Central  of  New  Jersey,  Reading,  Erie, 
Rock  Island,  Southern  Railway,  Great  Northern,  Northern  Pacific, 
New  York  Central  and  New  Haven.  After  his  friend  Morgan  or- 
ganized the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  Baker  became  a  member 
of  its  Finance  Committee.  Few  other  industrial  corporations  worth 
bothering  about  were  overlooked  by  him  or,  rather,  few  of  them 
overlooked  him,  for  he  was  sought  as  a  director  by  most  of  them. 
One  of  his  railroad  co-directors  tells  me  that  Mr.  Baker's  knowledge 
and  memory  concerning  the  physical  as  well  as  financial  condition 
of  properties  were  astounding.     He  never  missed  inspection  trips. 

Quizzed  about  his  mile-long  list  of  directorships,  and  his  voting 
trusteeships,  Mr.  Baker  could  supply  very  little  enlightenment  off- 
hand.    Next  day,  however,  he  reverted  to  the  subject  thus: 

Mr.  Baker. — You  presented  me  before  the  public  as  such  a  great  director 
man,  more  than  I  realized  myself,  that  I  would  just  like  to  interject  here  that 
I  never  have  become  a  director  or  a  voting  trustee  from  solicitation  of  my 
own;  it  has  all  come  to  me. 

Q. — Do  you  know  how  many  you  have? 

Mr.  Baker. — I  know  I  have  too  many. 

Q. — Do  you  know  how  mapy? 

Mr.  Baker. — No. 

Q. — Have  you  got  twenty-five? 

Mr.  Baker. — I  guess  so. 

Q. — Have  you  got  fifty? 

Mr.  Baker. — I  do  not  know.     I  have  never  counted  them  up. 

Mr.  Baker  was  as  ignorant,  or  indifferent,  about  his  dividends  as 
he  was  about  his  directorships,  as  this  illuminating  page  from  the 
record  brings  out: 

Q. — Up  to  the  time  the  Chase  Bank's  capital  was  increased  to  $5,000,000, 
which  you  say  was  about  four  years  ago,  what  dividend  did  it  pay? 
Mr.  Baker. — I  do  not  remember. 

Q. — What,  with  an  ownership  of  23,000  shares,  you  cannot  tell  us  that? 
Mr.lBaker. — Oh,  I  could  by  looking  back,  but  I  do  not  happen  to  remember. 

Morgan,  it  will  be  recalled,  enunciated  the  famous  dictum  that  in 
his  eyes  character  was  more  important  than  collateral  in  granting  a 
loan.  Mr.  Baker  when  examined  on  this  point  first  corroborated 
Morgan's  theory  but  then  recanted,  in  this  wise: 

Q. — ^What  is  the  test  of  a  Stock  Exchange  loan?     _     - 
Mr.  Baker. — Oh,  it  is  as  much  who  the  borrower  is  as  anything.     .     .     . 
Possibly  the  loans  are  made  on  the  security  more  than  the  borrower. 


GEORGE  F.  BAKER  17 

0. — As  a  matter  of  fact,  does  not  the  bank  look  to  the  security  and  not  to 
the  borrower? 

A4r.  Baker. — Generally.  We  would  not  accept  applications  for  loans  from 
some  parties. 

Q. — There  are  some  people  who  could  not  get  money  from  your  bank  even 
if  they  had  any  amount  of  collateral? 

Mr.  Baker. — Yes,  sir. 

It  was  natural  that  the  Money  Trust  investigators  should  turn  the 
searchlight  upon  the  First  Security  Company.  At  one  point  the 
committee's  lawyer  asked  Mr.  Baker: 

"Did  you  consider  the  organizing  of  the  First  Security  Company 
a  mere  evasion  of  the  Bank  Act?" 

Mr.  Baker  replied,  "No." 

This  subsidiary  immediately  began  to  pay  dividends  ranging  from 
12  to  17  per  cent,  and  in  the  first  four  years  of  its  existence  accumu- 
lated a  surplus  of  40  per  cent.     It  has  waxed  richer  since. 

"There  is  no  question  that  you  control  the  First  National  Bank 
in  its  management  and  affairs?"  asked  Mr.  Untermyer. 

"I  would  not  like  to  be  so  conceited  as  to  say  that." 

Q. — Nobody  has  disputed  your  control? 

Mr.  Baker. — No,  sir,  and  I  haven't  disputed  anybody  else's  control. 
Q. — Well,  who  else  has  undertaken  to  control  the  bank? 
Air.  Baker. — Nobody,  and  nobody  has  undertaken  to  control  it  at  all. 
Q. — I  understand;  it  controls  itself? 

Mr.  Baker.— Fractic3.\\y.  We  are  a  very  harmonious  family,  I  am  happy 
to  say,  and  we  can't  get  up  any  quarrels. 

Q. — Well,  on  the  basis  of  226  per  cent,  in  a  few  years,  it  ought  to  be. 

It  developed  that  Mr.  Baker  bought  control  of  the  Chase  Bank 
with  a  view  to  amalgamating  it  with  the  First  National,  but  it  became 
strong  enough  to  stand  on  its  own  legs,  so  the  merger  did  not  go 
through. 

Since  then  Mr.  Baker  has  resigned  from  several  directorates,  but  is 
still  en  more  than  twoscore  boards,  representing  a  total  capitalization 
running  into  the  billions. 

Although  in  his  78th  year,  he  is  as  fleet-footed,  as  clear-eyed,  as 
straight-backed,  and  as  energetic  as  most  men  of  60.  During  his 
busy  business  life  he  found  little  time  for  sports  of  any  kind,  and  it 
was  not  until  he  was  70  that  he  swung  his  first  golf  club.  Then  he 
got  the  golfing  fever  and  has  since  spent  many  a  day  on  the  links. 
He  would  now  give  John  D.  Rockefeller  a  game  tussle  were  these 
two  gladiators  to  fight  a  match.  At  the  same  time  as  he  began  golf 
he  smoked  his  first  cigar,  and  has  since  revelled  in  that  dissipation  also. 

Even  the  rankest  Socialist  would  not  quarrel  with  Mr.  Baker's 


i8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

mode  of  living.  He  has  never  indulged  in  offensive  extravagances, 
never  paraded  unwonted  luxuries,  never  flaunted  his  wealth  in  the 
face  of  people  less  wealthy  than  himself.  His  friends  say  that  his 
domestic  life  was  beautiful  in  its  simplicity  and  harmony. 

Certainly  his  only  son,  George  F.  Baker,  Jr.,  who  is  following  in 
his  father's  footsteps  at  the  First  National  Bank,  is  universally  re- 
garded as  a  most  worthy  young  man,  a  hard,  intelligent  worker,  a 
clean-cut  sportsman  in  the  best  sense  of  that  term — he  is  Commodore 
of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club — and  rivalling  his  father  in  his  unex- 
ceptionable domestic  characteristics.  In  America's  hour  of  need  he 
stepped  forth  for  national  service,  accepting,  among  other  duties, 
the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  to  Enroll  Yachts  for  the  U.  S. 
Naval  Reserve  Forces.  Later,  with  the  rank  of  Lieutenant-Colonel, 
he  headed  a  Red  Cross  Commission  to  Italy,  braving  all  the  dangers 
of  the  submarine-infested  Atlantic. 

George  F.  Baker's  intimate  friends  talk  admiringly,  not  to  say 
lovingly,  of  him.  They  declare  that  he  Is  not  conscious  of  his  tre- 
mendous financial  influence,  that  he  never  attempts  to  lord  it  over 
other  people,  that  he  is  actuated  by  the  most  patriotic  motives  in 
all  his  endeavours  to  develop  America's  financial,  railroad,  and  in- 
dustrial activities.  They  emphasize  his  simple  habits  and  tastes, 
his  aversion  to  all  that  smacks  of  ostentation,  and  his  inordinate  dislike 
of  coming  to  the  front  in  anyway  whatsoever. 

The  Baker  his  friends  portray  is  the  very  antithesis  of  the  stony- 
hearted, money-making  machine  the  public  pictures  him.  Certainly 
there  has  never  been  the  slightest  suggestion  of  any  financial  dealings 
even  remotely  crooked  on  his  part. 


A.  C.  BEDFORD 


ALFRED  C.  BEDFORD 

WHEN  Chester  A.  Arthur  was  serving  his  term  as  President  of 
the  United  States,  a  young  man  walked  down  Broadway, 
New  York,  looking  for  a  job. 

Thirty-three  years  later  he  took  his  seat  at  the  head  of  the  directors* 
table  in  the  most  famous  business  building  on  Broadway,  as  president 
of  the  greatest  business  organization  in  the  world's  history. 

"What  was  your  first  step  toward  success?  What  first  elevated 
you  above  the  rank  and  file.''  How  did  you  get  a  foothold  on  the 
ladder  of  success.?"  I  asked  Alfred  C.  Bedford,  recently  elected 
president  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  of  New  Jersey,  the  parent 
company  of  the  whole  Standard  Oil  organization. 

"When  I  got  a  position  as  an  office-boy  I  vv^as  always  on  the  alert 
to  make  myself  useful.  I  often  volunteered,  after  my  own  work  was 
done,  to  count  the  cash  for  the  cashier,  to  draw  off  balances  for  the 
bookkeeper,  make  up  vouchers,  carry  the  books  to  the  safe,  and  do 
every  little  job  I  could  see  needed  doing,"  replied  Mr.  Bedford.  "I 
was  soon  assigned  to  do  the  running  for  an  expert  accountant  who 
came  to  reorganize  the  whole  system  of  accounts  and  bookkeeping. 
Instead  of  merely  getting  out  vouchers  and  other  papers  that  he  called 
for,  I  asked  to  be  allowed  to  count  up  columns  of  figures,  compare  vouch- 
ers, and  do  the  statistical  drudgery.  In  appreciation,  the  accountant 
began  to  teach  me  not  only  ordinary  bookkeeping  but  the  principles 
underlying  accountancy  and  the  fundamentals  of  recording  and  ana- 
lyzing business  transactions. 

"I  applied  myself  diligently  to  this  work,  studying  at  home  at  night, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  I  graduated  from  office-boy  to  a  position 
of  greater  responsibility  than  that  of  a  routine  bookkeeper.  This 
first  promotion  I  attribute  to  my  willingness  to  do  more  than  was 
expected  of  me  and  to  the  Insight  I  then  obtained  into  business 
methods.  This  gave  me  a  grasp  and  a  vision  such  as  the  average 
clerk  in  an  office  too  often  falls  to  cultivate  because  orhis«machine-like 
performance  of  his  allotted  tasks." 

The  installation  of  A.  C.  Bedford  as  president  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  marks  the  passing  of  the  old  and  the  advent  of  the  new 
generation.  John  D.  Rockefeller  and  his  brother  William  Rocke- 
feller are  the  only  survivors  of  the  original  band  of  brainy  stal- 
warts who  conceived  and  created  the  organization  which  was  to  en- 

19 


20  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

compass  the  earth,  bringing  light  into  dark  places,  and  now  these 
veterans  have  no  connection  with  the  business.  Gone  are  Rogers, 
Flagler,  Payne,  Pratt,  McGee,  Tilford,  Worden,  Brewster,  and  Arch- 
bold — all  men  of  vision  and  force,  enterprise  and  courage. 

In  their  stead  are  rising  up  a  new  race,  a  younger  group,  of  whom 
A.  C.  Bedford,  W.  C.  Teagle,  F.  W.  Weller,  H.  C.  Folger,  H.  L.  Pratt, 
Dr.W.  M.  Burton,  and  W.  S.  Rheem  are  among  the  most  conspicuous. 
This  second  generation  has  not  yet  demonstrated  beyond  doubt  its 
fitness  to  rule  over  the  industrial  realms  to  which  it  has  fallen  heir. 

But  it  has  made  a  promising  start.  New  rulers  have  brought  new 
rules.  The  old-time  secrecy  that  beset  26  Broadway,  engendering 
so  much  suspicion,  irritation,  and  agitation,  has  been  abolished. 

"I  mean  to  keep  my  door  wide  open  to  every  person  having  a 
legitimate  call  upon  my  attention,"  was  the  revolutionary  proclama- 
tion of  Standard  Oil's  new  president  on  taking  office.  Veteran  news- 
paper men  assigned  to  get  particulars  of  Mr.  Bedford's  election,  hav- 
ing in  mind  past  experiences  at  No.  26,  could  scarce  believe  their 
eyes  and  senses  when  they  were  ushered  into  the  presidential  sanctum 
without  more  ado  than  if  they  were  calling  upon  the  executive  of 
some  corporation  long  converted  to  the  principle  of  publicity. 

They  found  in  A.  C.  Bedford  a  rational  human  being,  a  man  of 
heart  as  well  as  head;  open,  frank,  congenial,  ready  to  discuss  labour 
or  any  other  problem  incidental  to  the  conduct  of  corporate  business. 
Barred  doors  and  sealed  lips  henceforth  are  to  have  no  place  through- 
out 26  Broadway.  President  Bedford  is  an  apostle  of  the  doctrine  of 
publicity. 

Having  himself  travelled  unaided  every  step  of  the  way,  from  the 
valley  of  obscurity  to  the  summit  of  success,  I  asked  Mr.  Bedford  to 
tell  some  of  the  things  he  had  learned  during  his  journey,  to  give  some 
suggestions  or  pointers  for  the  guidance  of  other  climbers. 

"Well,"  he  began,  "my  advice  to  every  young  man  would  be  this: 

"Do  everything  you  are  told — and  do  It  with  all  your  heart  and 
strength — willingly,  cheerfully,  and  enthusiastically — and  then  look 
around  for  more  work  to  do. 

"Don't  measure  your  work  by  hours,  but  by  what  it  is  possible 
for  you  to  accomplish  from  the  time  you  enter  in  the  morning — and 
be  early  rather  than  late — until  the  place  closes  in  the  evening;  and 
don't  quit  the  moment  the  place  officially  closes  if  there  is  work  still 
to  be  done. 

"Read  and  study  and  think  along  the  lines  of  your  business. 
Learn  what  It  is  all  about,  what  service  It  contributes  to  making  the 
world  go  round  more  comfortably  and  efficiently.  Cultivate  the 
habit  of  looking  ahead,  of  acquiring  as  much  foresight  as  possible. 
Have  Imagination  and  vision. 


ALFRED  C.  BEDFORD  21 

"Then  try  to  plan  out  your  life,  to  map  out  a  course;  consider  and 
calculate  the  steps  necessary  to  carry  you  toward  your  goal;  go  for- 
ward step  by  step — and  don't  get  your  sequences  mixed.  Do  one 
thing  at  a  time.  If  your  job  at  the  moment  is  to  keep  books,  master 
bookkeeping  thoroughly  and  study  the  fundamentals  of  accountancy 
— don't  merely  keep  your  books  mechanically.  From  accountancy 
go  on  to  study  finance,  and  this  will  help  to  open  other  doors.  Or,  if 
you  start  in  a  manufacturing  department,  first  master  that  depart- 
ment and  then  learn  all  there  is  to  be  learned  about  other  depart- 
ments. Thus  will  you  become  familiar  with  the  whole  process  of 
manufacture. 

"Your  next  step  would  be  to  learn  the  outlets  and  the  uses  for  your 
manufacture — the  market  for  your  product.  By  studying  what  and 
how  much  your  market  will  take  or  will  not  take  you  become  a  capable 
merchandise  man.  This  double  knowledge  of  manufacturing  and 
merchandising  qualifies  you  to  fill  an  executive  position  and  opens 
the  way  to  rise  to  the  very  top,  whereas  the  fellow  who  was  content  to 
jog  along  in  a  rut  in  one  department  will  still  be  about  where  he 
began." 

"You  think,  then,  Mr.  Bedford,  that  almost  every  fellow  has  a 
chance?"  I  asked. 

"No,  not  a  chance,  not  one  chance,  but  many  chances"  he  replied 
spiritedly.  "Every  fellow  has  chances  coming  his  way  constantly; 
it  is  not  a  question  of  having  chances  but  of  recognizing  chances 
when  they  come.  You  sometimes  hear  a  fellow  say:  *I  had  a  chance 
once  but  didn't  take  it.'  Never  mind  the  chance  that  is  past;  watch 
out  for  the  next  one  and  qualify  to  be  able  to  seize  it," 

"You  believe  the  young  man  of  normal  intelligence  and  abnormal 
diligence  can  usually  make  at  least  a  moderate  success  of  his  life.?"  I 
queried. 

"Yes — I  have  no  patience  with  smart  Alecks,  with  high-fliers, 
with  brilliant  young  gentlemen  who  go  up  like  sky-rockets,  for  they 
usually  come  down  like  sticks,"  he  declared  with  emphasis.  "Do 
the  natural  thing;  do  just  what  is  reasonable  whether  you  are  dealing 
with  an  employer  or  a  customer  or  a  competitor  or  with  labour. 
Avoid  short  cuts. 

"Success  that  is  worth  while  is,  after  all,  very  largely  a  matter  of 
plain,  every-day  morality  combined  with  tremendous  industry  and  a 
deserved  reputation  for  integrity  and  for  fairness  toward  the  other 
fellow." 

Rather  old-fashioned  advice?  Not  much  comfort  in  it,  is  there, 
for  those  who  want  to  find  some  brand-new  trick  for  lassoing  success 
without  working  for  it?  Pretty  much  an  endorsement  of  the  eternal 
verities,  of  such  matter-of-fact  virtues  as  industry  and  honesty? 


22  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

The  more  I  dig  into  the  lives  of  successful  men  the  more  convinced 
I  become  that  all  have  had  to  travel  the  same  sort  of  hilly  road,  sweat- 
ing brow  and  brain,  meeting  and  overcoming  obstacles,  but  never 
losing  sight  of  their  lodestar  no  matter  how  great  the  provocation. 
The  scale  that  weighs  success  and  mediocrity,  I  verily  believe,  often- 
times is  tipped  by  an  extra  ounce  or  two  of  energy,  an  additional  hour 
or  two  of  labour,  an  added  yard  or  two  of  foresight. 

From  the  day  he  began  work  Alfred  C.  Bedford  did  not  neglect 
the  needful  extra  effort.  He  was  fortunate  in  his  up-bringing.  His 
father,  of  English  parentage,  was  for  years  the  European  representa- 
tive of  an  American  watch  company  in  London,  England,  though 
still  retaining  a  home  in  Brooklyn.  Alfred  was  educated  first  at 
Adelphi  College,  Brooklyn,  and  later  at  Lausanne,  Switzerland,  this 
place  having  been  chosen  because  of  the  excellent  linguistic  and  other 
advantages  it  offered.  His  mother,  who  is  still  alive  at  84,  a  scholarly 
and  intellectual  woman,  familiar  with  the  best  in  art,  music,  literature, 
and  history,  spent  much  of  her  time  supervising  the  studies  of  Alfred 
and  a  brother. 

"To  my  mother  I  owe  my  love  for  art  and  literature  and  the  finer 
things  of  life,"  was  the  son's  simple  tribute. 

When  nearing  nineteen,  Alfred,  his  European  education  finished, 
decided  it  was  time  he  started  work.  He  had  no  pronounced  bent, 
no  predilection  for  any  special  field.  A  friend  offered  him  a  place  as 
stock  boy  in  his  department  at  the  wholesale  drygoods  house  of 
E.  S,  Jaffray  and  Company  on  Broadway.  This  was  a  chance  to 
get  on  Broadway,  so  he  took  it, 

Alas!  within  forty-eight  hours  he  realized  that  he  had  made  a  mis- 
take, that  he  had  entered  the  wrong  place.  The  whole  environment 
repelled  him.  There  were  twenty  other  youths  in  the  department, 
all  being  trained  by  its  head,  a  high-grade,  clean,  large-hearted 
man  who  took  a  deep  and  active  interest  in  helping  youths  to  get 
on  in  life.  But  young  Bedford  could  see  no  future  here;  every- 
thing seemed  blocked  ahead.  Besides,  ribbons  did  not  appeal  to  his 
manliness. 

But  he  did  not  quit.  Preparation  for  the  fall  trade  necessitated 
continuous  work  from  seven  or  eight  in  the  morning  till  ten  or  eleven 
at  night.  Bedford  did  his  share,  shirking  nothing.  From  junior 
stock  boy  he  was  rapidly  promoted  to  be  a  full-fledged  stock  clerk  and 
later  was  allowed  to  do  some  selling. 

"Distasteful  and  repugnant  though  handling  ribbons  was  to  me," 
remarked  Mr.  Bedford  in  recounting  those  early  days,  "I  there 
learned  the  value  of  order  and  system,  of  inventory  and  proper  keep- 
ing of  stock  and  also  of  business  discipline.  The  manager  was  a 
brilliant  salesman,  and  we  used  to  edge  near  to  hear  his  talk  when  he 


ALFRED  C.  BEDFORD  23 

was  selling  a  bill  of  goods.  His  skill  caused  us  open-mouthed  wonder. 
We  regarded  him  as  a  genius." 

Then  came  a  pause.     I  waited. 

"I  also  learned  another  lesson  there,"  Mr.  Bedford  resumed.  "Our 
most  important  customer  was  coming  and  we  made  extraordinary- 
preparations  to  fascinate  him  with  our  display  of  goods.  Everything 
in  the  department,  from  the  oldest,  stalest  stuff  to  the  newest,  was 
brought  out  and  arranged  with  consummate  artistry.  Even  the 
dead  numbers  seemed  to  glow  with  beauty,  so  cleverly  were  they  in- 
terspersed with  the  choicest  and  freshest  creations.  Well,  the  buyer 
came — and  succumbed.  In  two  days  he  bought  everything  the 
manager  suggested.  News  of  the  coup  rang  through  the  whole  house. 
Congratulations  showered  upon  our  department  head. 

"Next  season  came — but  not  the  buyer.  He  had  found  to  his  cost 
that  in  his  purchases  of  the  previous  season  there  had  been  included 
a  lot  of  old-fashioned,  obsolete,  unsalable  stuff  on  which,  of  course, 
he  lost  money.  It  was  whispered  he  would  never  buy  another  dollar's 
worth  of  merchandise  from  that  department. 

"This  incident  burned  certain  truths  into  my  mind.  It  taught  me 
that  it  is  fatal  to  palm  off  on  a  customer  something  he  doesn't  want, 
that  you  have  to  be  as  zealous  about  the  welfare  of  your  customer  as 
about  your  own,  that  you  must  inspire  and  deserve  his  confidence 
by  advising  him  frankly  and  faithfully  what  you  believe  will  best 
suit  his  purposes  and  enable  him  to  make  a  satisfactory  profit.  Once 
you  establish  such  relations  with  a  customer,  you  rivet  him  to 
you  *with  hooks  of  steel.'  Your  business,  run  on  these  lines,  will 
grow." 

When  a  chance  came  to  better  himself  by  going  with  a  flour  firm, 
Alfred  wrote  his  father  for  advice.  In  reply  he  was  told  to  see  his 
father's  friend,  Charles  Pratt.  After  investigation,  Mr.  Pratt  coun- 
selled that  the  concern  was  too  small  to  offer  large  opportunities. 
Shortly  aftenvard  (in  1882)  young  Bedford  was  asked  to  call  at  46 
Broadway,  the  offices  of  Charles  Pratt  and  Company  whose  oil  busi- 
ness was  then  in  process  of  amalgamation  with  the  Standard  Oil 
Company.  He  secured  a  position.  That  was  A.  C.  Bedford's  initial 
connection  with  Standard  Oil. 

His  first  order  was  to  draw  off  a  balance  sheet  from  the  books  of  a 
small  subsidiary  company.  He  had  never  kept  books,  and,  struggle 
as  he  might,  he  couldn't  reach  a  balance.  The  bookkeeper  finally 
noticed  that  the  newcomer  was  in  trouble  and  looked  the  figures  over. 
"Try  putting  the  cash  in  and  see  if  it  won't  balance,"  he  remarked 
dryly.  And  of  course  it  did.  Bedford  realized  that  he  had  a  lot  to 
learn — but  he  was  determined  to  learn  it. 

He  needed  determination  to  go  on  in  this  place,  for  the  bookkeeper 


24  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

never  tired  of  telling  him  what  a  terrible  mistake  he  had  made  in  coming 
to  such  an  office,  for  he  himself  had  been  there  for  years  and  years 
but,  though  forty,  was  nothing  more  than  a  bookkeeper.  "I  would 
rather  see  any  son  of  mine  dead  than  starting  in  as  you're  doing,"  he 
told  Bedford. 

Bedford,  however,  was  made  of  different  stuff.  He  had  clearer 
eyes,  a  more  virile  imagination,  a  stiffer  backbone.  In  the  readjust- 
ment of  the  Pratt  business  the  pessimistic  bookkeeper  was  dropped 
and  an  expert  accountant  was  called  in,  as  already  related. 

About  this  time  Standard  Oil  was  laying  plans  to  extend  its  rami- 
fications to  the  Far  East.  One  of  its  representatives  was  sending 
from  India  long  letters  describing  conditions  and  prospects  there,  and 
when  the  stenographer  made  copies  for  the  use  of  the  directors,  he 
entrusted  Bedford  with  the  reading  of  the  proofs.  This  opened  up  a 
new  vista.  The  possibilities  of  this  business  with  which  he  had  be- 
come connected  fired  his  imagination.  Here  was  something  big 
enough  for  any  man  to  tackle — vastly  different  from  ribbons! 

The  ability,  the  enthusiasm,  the  trustworthiness  of  his  young 
friend  won  the  fullest  confidence  of  Mr.  Pratt.  Although  at  first 
nominally  In  the  employ  of  the  Bergen  Point  Chemical  Company, 
Bedford  gradually  was  given  more  and  more  responsible  and  confiden- 
tial duties  by  Mr.  Pratt,  not  only  in  business,  but  in  the  philanthropic 
work  which  latterly  claimed  so  much  of  that  noble,  public-spirited 
citizen's  life.  When  C.  M.  Pratt,  a  son  of  the  firm's  founder,  took 
charge,  Mr.  Bedford  became  his  assistant. 

These  were  years  of  valuable  training  for  the  future  president  of 
Standard  Oil.  He  became  directly  associated  with  the  running  of  var- 
ious important  concerns  outside  of  oil,  as  the  Pratts  had  large  in- 
terests in  numerous  enterprises.  Thus  it  came  about  that  Mr.  Bed- 
ford became  treasurer  of  the  Long  Island  Railroad,  secretary  of  the 
Ohio  River  Railroad,  a  directing  force  in  an  electric  light  property  in 
Portland,  Oregon,  in  coal  properties  in  West  Virginia,  in  water  pro- 
jects, in  public  utility  enterprises  and  in  railroad  building.  Every 
new  activity,  every  additional  experience,  every  fresh  responsibility 
brought  increased  travelling,  broader  knowledge,  and  a  constantly 
widening  circle  of  friends  in  the  world  of  affairs. 

All  this  time  Mr.  Bedford  retained  his  connection  with  Standard 
Oil  through  its  subsidiary,  the  Bergen  Point  Chemical  Co.,  of  which 
he  had  become  manager.  He  had  a  conviction  that  some  day  this 
association  might  prove  extremely  valuable.     And  it  did. 

One  day  in  1907,  before  the  financial  panic  broke,  H.  H.  Rogers 
came  to  Mr.  Bedford  and  told  him  there  would  be  an  opportunity 
for  him  to  join  the  Standard  Oil  directorate.  The  suggestion  dum- 
founded  him. 


ALFRED  C.  BEDFORD  25 

"I  don't  see  what  use  I  could  be  on  the  board,  for  Fm  not  essen- 
tially an  oil  man,"  protested  Mr.  Bedford. 

"You  have  had  a  broad,  practical,  general  business  experience  and 
that  is  what  we  want,"  Rogers  explained  in  a  tone  6f  finality.  "We 
think  there  is  a  place  for  a  young  man  like  you." 

Next  day  the  newspapers  received  a  three-line  announcement  that 
"Alfred  C.  Bedford  was  to-day  elected  a  director  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  of  New  Jersey." 

Mr.  Bedford  had  broken  all  precedent.  Never  before  had  any  but 
practical,  dyed-in-the-wool  oil  experts  been  elected  to  the  great 
Standard  Oil  board.  Every  man  on  it  was  a  giant.  Every  name  on 
that  directorate  was  an  epitome  of  important  industrial  history. 

The  news  of  Mr.  Bedford's  elevation  caused  widespread  comment. 
It  was  so  revolutionary.  It  was  so  different  from  anything  the  staid, 
heavyweight  Rockefeller  board  had  ever  done  before. 

But  Mr.  Rogers  and  the  Rockefellers  and  the  others  familiar  with 
the  facts  knew  what  they  were  about.  They  knew  they  were  making 
no  mistake.  Mr.  Rogers  had  made  it  his  special  business  to  study 
the  crop  of  new  timber  and  he  had  had  no  difficulty  in  singling  out 
Alfred  Bedford  as  the  most  promising  tree  in  the  whole  forest — 
Standard  Oil  then  had  some  60,000  employees. 

"It  was  an  invaluable  experience  for  me  to  rub  shoulders  with  these 
men  daily  at  such  an  eventful  time,"  Mr.  Bedford  recently  remarked. 
"I  drank  in  the  business  and  financial  wisdom  they  had  accumulated 
during  several  decades  of  activity  in  the  handling  of  gigantic  affairs. 
It  was  an  inestimable  privilege  for  a  comparatively  young  man." 

Being  the  youngest  director,  whenever  any  important  missions 
involving  travel  and  fatigue  had  to  be  undertaken,  Mr.  Bedford  was 
delegated  to  carry  them  out.  England,  Roumania,  Italy,  France,  and 
Germany  all  claimed  on-the-spot  attention.  He  rapidly  withdrew 
from  outside  interests  and  concentrated  upon  the  producing,  refining, 
transporting,  and  marketing  of  oil. 

When  the  Government  instituted  dissolution  proceedings  against 
the  company  in  1908,  Mr.  Bedford  was  one  of  those  selected  to  look 
after  the  preparation  of  the  data  necessary  for  the  defence.  If  he  had 
not  known  the  Standard  Oil  business  in  all  its  kinks  and  phases  before 
then,  he  assuredly  had  opportunity  to  gather  all  the  facts  during  the 
succeeding  year  or  two. 

Dissolution  was  ordered  in  191 1,  the  decree  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  resulting  in  the  splitting  of  the  organization 
into  thirty-two  companies.  Although  Mr.  Bedford  disclaims  any 
credit  for  the  masterful  manner  in  which  this  was  done  without  dis- 
turbance to  a  great  industry  affecting  the  well-being  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  citizens  and  practically  every  railroad  and  manufacturing 


26  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

industry  as  well  as  a  great  foreign  commerce,  and  attributes  the 
achievement  to  the  efficiency  of  the  organization  and  its  personnel, 
it  is  not  illogical  to  surmise  that  his  training  and  executive  ability 
had  not  a  little  to  do  with  the  phenomenal  care  with  which  the  vast, 
complicated  task  was  carried  out  in  conformity  with  the  decree  of  the 
court. 

All  the  veterans  then  retired  from  the  board  except  John  D.  Arch- 
bold,  who  became  president.  Mr.  Bedford,  who  had  risen  to  the 
treasurership,  was  now  promoted  to  the  vice-presidency,  and  on  the 
death  of  Mr.  Archbold,  he  was  elected  to  the  presidency  of  the  com- 
pany, on  December  26,  1916. 

In  newspaper  interviews  with  Mr.  Bedford,  published  on  his  elec- 
tion, these  sentences  occur: 

"The  stormy  period  of  business  recrimination  and  reconstruction 
is  past.  A  clear  road  is  open  to  extend  America's  domestic  and  foreign 
trade  along  lines  of  fairness  and  benefit  to  all." 

*' We  shall  have  many  difficulties  to  meet  after  the  war  that  we  did 
not  experience  before.  Trade  with  other  countries  is  a  necessary 
means  of  expanding  our  commerce.  Europe  will  be  alive;  so  must  we 
keep  abreast  of  our  opportunities." 

"A  friend  from  Europe  recently  told  our  company:  'We're  going 
to  get  after  you  oil  people  in  America  and  we'll  control  the  oil  business 
of  the  world  because  we  can  go  ahead  without  unnecessary  interference 
from  government  or  people.'  If  we  are  to  succeed  in  world  competi- 
tion after  the  war,  the  public,  the  government,  and  the  press  must 
adopt  a  fair  and  liberal  attitude  toward  the  men  who  are  trying  to  do 
the  business  of  the  country." 

"We  have  always  treated  labour  well.  We  have  not  furnished 
workmen's  houses  and  free  baths  and  that  sort  of  thing,  because  we 
believe  that  the  cities  should  do  these  things.  Most  of  the  men  live 
in  cities  where  they  should  have  opportunities  for  proper  living  and 
entertainment  as  a  right  and  not  as  gifts  from  employers.  Adequate 
wages  and  independence  to  my  mind  are  best  for  the  workingman — 
and  in  general  he  will  agree  with  this." 

I  should  add  that  the  biggest  thing  Mr.  Bedford  has  done  in  a  busi- 
ness way  has  never  been  publicly  commented  upon,  namely,  his  colos- 
sal development  of  natural  gas  resources,  but  that  is  another  story. 

Of  Mr.  Bedford's  non-business  activities  I  cannot  here  speak  at 
length.  I  can  only  mention  that  he  has  been  a  moving  spirit  in 
erecting  in  Brooklyn  a  ^1,500,000  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  where  500  men 
live  permanently — in  reality,  a  huge  temperance  hotel  as  well  as  a 
religious,  educational,  and  recreation  centre.  Much  of  his  spare  time 
is  devoted  to  helpful  work  among  the  young.  Recently  Mr.  Bedford 
was  appointed  by  the  International  Y.  M.  C.  A.  as  one  of  Its  War 


ALFRED  C.  BEDFORD  27 

Work  Committee.  This  body  will  organize  a  comprehensive  plan 
for  extending  the  work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  our  Army  and  Navy 
during  the  present  war. 

The  highest  possible  tribute  to  Mr.  Bedford's  ability  as  a  master 
of  the  oil  industry  was  recently  paid  him  by  his  selection,  by  the 
Council  of  National  Defense,  as  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Petroleum.  This  committee  is  made  up  of  the  most  prominent  oil 
men  in  the  United  States,  and  will  look  after  the  vitally  important 
matter  of  conserving  and  effectively  utilizing  our  supply  of  oil. 

Another  high  honour  was  paid  Mr.  Bedford  recently  by  the 
United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  appointing  him  a  member 
of  the  committee  to  which  has  been  entrusted  the  very  serious  question 
of  the  regulation  of  the  war  pay  rolls,  that  is,  of  wages  to  be  paid  during 
the  continuance  of  the  great  struggle  upon  which  we  have  entered. 
The  necessity  for  wise  action  in  this  matter  is  so  urgent  that  the 
United  States  Chamber  of  Commerce  at  Washington  was  called  upon 
to  make  a  canvass  of  the  nation  and  to  secure,  from  the  most  reliable 
sources  of  information,  all  the  facts  that  would  help  to  solve  one  of 
the  grave  problems  of  the  war. 

Mr.  Bedford  believes  that  sound  health  makes  for  success — and 
also  for  a  better  manhood.  So  he  doesn't  neglect  exercise  and  recrea- 
tion. He  is  a  devotee  of  golf,  rides  a  lot,  has  a  country  home  at  Glen 
Cove,  Long  Island,  and  enjoys  outings  with  his  family — he  is  married 
and  has  two  sons. 

A  wholesome  man,  is  he  not,  to  have  at  the  helm  of  one  of  America's 
most  far-reaching  industrial  organizations  ? 


ALEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL 

NEXT  to  the  reaping  machine,  which  drove  famine  from  the 
world,  America's  greatest  gift  to  modern  civilization  has  been 
the  telephone.  The  name  of  its  inventor,  Dr.  Alexander 
Graham  Bell,  will  live  down  the  ages  after  all  but  two  or  three  present- 
day  Americans  have  been  forgotten. 

The  world  scoffed  at  the  first  telephone  just  as  it  scoffed  at  McCor- 
mick's  first  crude  reaper,  at  Fulton's  first  steamship,  at  Field's  first 
transatlantic  cable-laying  project,  at  Morse's  first  telegraph,  at 
Goodyear's  first  rubber  products,  at  Wright's  first  aeroplane,  and  at 
Edison's  electric  lighting  experiments. 

Unlike  most  famous  inventors.  Dr.  Bell  did  not  spring  from  ob- 
scurity and  poverty.  His  father  was  a  scholar  and  scientist  of  note, 
and  young  Bell  received  a  ripe  education.  But  he  did  not  escape  the 
common  fate  of  inventors  and  pioneers.  His  struggles  with  poverty 
came  in  early  manhood  instead  of  in  boyhood.  And  they  were  strug- 
gles as  trying  and  as  protracted  as  fall  to  the  lot  of  few  men.  At  one 
time,  while  fighting  to  establish  his  ridiculed  "toy"  as  an  article  of 
genuine  use,  he  was  reduced  to  the  extremity  of  borrowing  occasional 
half  dollars  for  a  meal,  sharing  this  lot  with  his  dynamic  colleague, 
Theodore  N.  Vail. 

The  world  first  learned  of  the  telephone  at  the  Centennial  Exposi- 
tion at  Philadelphia  in  1876.  On  January  20  of  that  year  a  young 
college  professor  of  Salem,  Mass.,  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  had  exe- 
cuted specifications  and  a  claim  for  an  invention  embodying  an  im- 
provement in  telegraphy,  which  in  reality  was  a  telephone,  and  on 
February  14  his  application  for  the  American  patent  was  filed  at 
Washington. 

The  first  telephone  message  of  which  there  is  record  was  this:  "Mr 
Watson,  come  here,  I  want  you."  It  was  sent  on  March  10,  1876, 
by  the  inventor  from  the  top  floor  of  a  Boston  boarding-house  to  a 
colleague,  Thomas  A.  Watson,  in  a  room  below.  Watson  heard  every 
word  and  rushed  to  apprise  Bell  of  the  fact.  Almost  forty  years  later, 
on  January  25,  191 5,  Dr.  Bell  sent  the  same  message  to  Mr.  Watson, 
only  this  time  Bell  was  in  New  York  and  Watson  in  San  Francisco. 

I  can  give  from  Dr.  Bell's  own  lips  the  story  of  the  birth  of  the 
telephone,  surely  a  narrative  worthy  of  a  place  in  history. 

**As  a  young,  unknown  man,"  said  Dr.  Bell,  "I  had  been  experi- 

28 


ALEXANDKR  (JRAHAM  l^K 


ALEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL  29 

meriting  with  a  multiple  telegraph  apparatus  and  I  went  to  Washing- 
ton to  discuss  with  the  venerable  Professor  Henry  of  Washington,  a 
great  authority  on  electricity,  an  idea  I  had  conceived  for  transmitting 
speech  by  wires.  He  was  so  sympathetic  and  encouraging  and  ex- 
pressed such  deep  interest  that  I  talked  to  him  quite  freely.  He  told 
me  he  thought  I  had  the  germ  of  a  great  invention.  I  told  him,  how- 
ever, that  I  had  not  the  electrical  knowledge  necessary  to  bring  it  into 
existence.     He  replied,YGet  it.' 

"I  look  back  upon  that  as  a  crucial  period  in  my  life.  I  was  en- 
couraged instead  of  discouraged.  I  felt  then  that  my  difficulty  was 
my  lack  of  knowledge  about  electricity,  but  I  now  realize  that  I  would 
never  have  brought  forth  the  telephone  if  I  had  known  anything  about 
electricity,  for  no  electrician  would  have  tried  what  I  tried. 

"The  advantage  I  had  was  that  I  had  studied  sound  all  my  life  and 
knew  something  of  its  nature,  the  shapes  of  the  vibrations  that  pass 
through  the  air  when  you  talk,  and  other  facts  about  sound.  I  had 
to  go  to  work,  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Watson,  to  learn  about 
electricity  by  my  own  experiments.  No  electrician  would  have  been 
foolish  enough  to  attempt  the  ridiculous  experiments  we  tried." 

That  was  the  very  beginning  of  the  telephone.  Let  Thomas  A. 
Watson  describe  what  preceded  and  what  followed. 

"In  1874  I  was  working  in  a  crude  little  workshop  in  Boston  where 
inventors  came  to  have  all  sorts  of  apparatus  made.  A  young  man 
came  in  one  day,  and  although  I  had  found  all  inventors  enthusiastic, 
I  soon  saw  that  not  one  of  them  had  the  boundless  enthusiasm  and 
confidence  of  my  new  client.  He  wanted  apparatus  made  which 
would  use  the  law  of  sympathetic  vibration  to  send  eight  or  ten  mes- 
sages simultaneously  over  a  single  wire.  The  scheme  looked  all  right 
to  me  at  first,  but  we  couldn't  get  it  to  work.  We  kept  on  experiment- 
ing all  winter — and  it  was  a  good  thing  we  did  not  succeed  at  first, 
for  if  we  had,  the  speaking  telephone  might  never  have  emerged  from 
Bell's  brain.  One  evening  Bell  said  to  me:  'Watson,  I  want  to  tell  you 
of  another  idea  I  have  which  will  surprise  you.'  He  then  confided  to 
me  that  he  believed  it  would  be  possible  to  invent  a  simple  contrivance 
to  enable  people  to  talk  by  telegraph.  My  nervous  system  never 
got  a  worse  shock!  On  June  2,  1875,  when  we  were  hard  at  work  on 
Bell's  harmonic  telegraph  apparatus,  I  in  one  room  trying  to  send 
messages  and  he  in  another  receiving  them,  one  of  the  transmitter 
springs  stopped  vibrating  and  Bell,  hearing  a  strange  sound,  imme- 
diately yelled  to  me:  'What  did  you  do  there?' 

"There  and  then  he  realized  that  the  sound  he  had  heard  over  the 
wire  was  the  first  real  sound  ever  carried  by  electricity  to  the  ear  of 
man.     The  speaking  telephone  was  born  at  that  moment. 

"Alexander  Graham  Bell  grasped  the  momentous  fact  that  the 


30  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

mechanism  could  transmit  other  sounds,  voices,  to  the  human  ear. 
Bell  at  once  gave  me  instructions  to  construct  the  first  speaking  tele- 
phone the  world  has  ever  seen.  Next  day  I  made  a  small  instrument, 
but  I  confess  I  did  not  then  realize  what  a  tremendously  important 
piece  of  work  I  was  doing.  By  means  of  the  little  instrument  we 
then  made  I  could  hear  his  voice  over  a  wire  and  could  almost  get  a 
word  now  and  then — that  was  all.  It  was  plain,  however,  that  Bell 
was  on  the  right  track.  It  took  ten  months  to  invent  apparatus 
which  could  transmit  a  complete  intelligible  sentence. 

"In  October,  1876,  the  first  long-distance  telephone  conversation 
was  conducted,  between  Boston  and  Cambridge.  We  borrowed  the 
use  of  the  telegraph  wire  after  work  was  finished  for  the  day  and  at- 
tached our  telephone  instrument  at  either  end.  We  could  not  get  the 
thing  to  work  at  all.  Finally,  I  discovered  that  another  connection 
was  interfering  with  us  and  when  this  was  cut  off  I  could  hear  Bell 
shouting:  'Ahoy,  Watson,  ahoy!  what's  the  matter?'  That  marked 
the  birth  of  long-distance  telephony. 

"Almost  forty  years  later  Bell  and  I,  by  means  of  that  first  tele- 
phone instrument,  spoke  over  4,000  miles,  he  in  New  York  and  I  in 
San  Francisco." 

To-day  the  Bell  system  carries  almost  30,000,000  messages  every 
day,  has  10,000,000  subscribers,  connected  by  20,000,000  miles  of 
wires,  a  billion  dollars'  worth  of  property,  and  employs  200,000 
workers.  As  an  adjunct  of  military  preparedness  it  has  proved  In- 
valuable in  these  latter  historic,  strenuous  days. 

Alexander  Graham  Bell  was  the  logical  man  to  invent  the  tele- 
phone. The  science  of  articulation  and  phonetics  had  no  more 
illustrious  exponent  than  his  father,  Alexander  Melville  Bell,  lecturer 
on  elocution  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh,  where  the  son  was  born 
on  March  3,  1847.  The  elder  Bell  had  devoted  intense  study  to 
enable  the  deaf  to  speak  by  means  of  "visible  speech"  and  was  the 
author  of  a  standard  volume  on  this  subject.  Mr.  Bell's  grandfather, 
Alexander  Bell,  had  aldb  won  national  fame  in  the  treatment  of  defec- 
tive utterance.  Then  his  mother  contributed  her  share  to  the  lad's 
talents;  she  taught  him  music,  particularly  piano  playing,  and  this 
enlarged  his  knowledge  of  the  science  of  sound. 

The  boy  Bell  had  a  healthy  amount  of  mischief  in  him.  His 
special  chum  was  the  son  of  a  miller  who,  on  catching  the  pair 
playing  some  prank  one  day,  admonished  them  and  ended  by  saying, 
"Now,  boys,  why  don't  you  do  something  useful?"  Bell  meekly 
asked  what,  for  example,  they  might  do.  The  miller  picked  up  a 
handful  of  wheat  and  replied:  "If  you  could  only  take  the  husks 
off  this  wheat  you  would  be  of  some  help."  Bell  set  his  young  brain 
to  work  and  discovered  that  by  diligently  using  a  nail  brush  he  could 


ALEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL  31 

remove  the  husks.  He  next  conceived  the  idea  that  the  work  might 
be  done  by  putting  the  wheat  into  a  rotating  machine  used  in  the  mill 
and  thrown  around  against  brushes  or  something  rough.  The  lad 
laid  his  scheme  before  the  miller  and  it  was  adopted  with  complete 
success. 

A  little  later  the  fertile-brained  Bell  founded  "The  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Fine  Arts  Among  Boys,"  in  which  every  member  was 
at  least  a  "professor."  The  founder  was  Professor  of  Anatomy,  and, 
aided  by  his  father,  gathered  a  collection  of  skeletons  of  small  animals 
cleaned  by  himself,  birds'  eggs,  plants,  etc.  The  Society  was  pro- 
gressing famously,  its  "lectures,"  held  in  the  Bell  attic,  being  very 
well  attended.  A  special  treat  was  in  store  when  Bell  got  hold  of  a 
dead  sucking  pig  and,  before  a  large  and  keenly  interested  audience, 
prepared  to  dissect  the  animal. 

"Professor"  Bell,  with  a  proud  flourish,  stuck  a  knife  Into  the  car- 
cass. Horrors!  It  emitted  a  groaning  sound!  A  mad  rush  was 
made  for  the  door,  led  by  the  terrified  anatomist.  After  that  the 
Society  languished. 

The  noise  had  been  caused  by  the  sudden  escape  of  some  air  which 
had  remained  in  the  animal. 

The  youthful  experimenter  was  more  successful  and — much  more 
entertaining — in  trying  to  teach  a  very  intelligent  skye  terrier  how  to 
talk.  By  a  little  aid  in  the  manipulation  of  its  lower  jaw,  the  dog 
learned  how  to  say  "Ow  ah  00,  ga-ma-ma" — "How  are  you,  grand- 
mamma.f'" 

After  graduating,  without  any  honours,  from  the  Royal  High 
School  of  Edinburgh,  at  fourteen,  the  boy  lived  for  a  year  in  London 
with  his  grandfather,  who  was  his  sole  intimate  associate  and  compan- 
ion. Here  he  devoted  himself  to  studying  the  science  of  sound,  be- 
came serious-minded  and  "old  for  his  age."  On  returning  home  he  so 
resented  the  curtailment  of  the  freedom  his  grandparent  had  allowed 
him  that,  in  league  with  his  brother,  he  determined  to  run  away  to  sea! 

"My  clothes  were  packed  and  I  had  fixed  the  hour  of  my  departure 
for  Leith,  where  I  expected  to  become  a  stowaway  on  a  vessel,"  Mr. 
Bell  relates. 

It  was  well  for  the  world  that  he  changed  his  mind  at  the  last 
moment.  Still  bent  on  gaining  independence,  the  youth,  now  six- 
teen, applied  for  a  position  as  teacher  in  an  Academy,  at  Elgin,  Scot- 
land, and  was  allowed  to  go.  His  salary  was  £10  ($50)  a  year  and 
board,  with  instruction  in  Latin  and  Greek  to  fit  him  for  the  Univer- 
sity. The  discovery  that  several  of  his  pupils  were  older  than  him- 
self did  not  frighten  him! 

Later  he  took  a  classical  course  in  Edinburgh  University  and  re- 
turned as  resident  master  and  teacher  of  elocution  and  music  at 


32  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Elgin  Academy.  When  the  Bell  family  removed  to  London  Alexan- 
der Graham  resumed  study,  first  at  University  College  and  then  at 
London  University. 

Before  he  was  twenty-one  he  had  taught  numbers  of  deaf-born 
children  how  to  speak,  and  when  his  father  left  for  a  lecturing  tour 
in  America  the  son  took  up  the  parent's  activities.  He  taught  speech 
defectives,  delivered  lectures  at  schools  and  colleges,  and  generally 
looked  after  his  father's  practice.  He  was  looked  upon  as  a  young 
man  of  extraordinary  ability,  as  something  more  than  the  brilliant 
son  of  a  brilliant  father. 

Fate  took  a  hand  at  this  juncture  in  giving  the  young  man's 
life  an  entirely  new  twist.  Two  of  his  brothers  died  from  tuberculo- 
sis, and  as  a  precautionary  measure  the  Bell  family,  in  1870,  crossed 
the  Atlantic  and  settled  near  Brantford,  Ontario. 

His  fame  as  a  teacher  of  the  deaf  won  for  him  an  appointment  at 
Boston  University  as  lecturer  on  vocal  physiology,  and  Professor  Bell 
removed  to  Boston  in  1872  to  devote  his  whole  energy  to  his  teaching 
and  study  of  the  science  of  speech  in  all  its  phases.  It  was  while 
here  that  he  became  interested  in  multiple  telegraphy  and,  as  already 
related,  in  telephony. 

A  man  of  less  enthusiasm,  less  faith,  less  patience,  would  have  given 
up  the  task  long  before  even  partial  success  was  attained.  To  analyze 
scientifically  the  exact  character  of  the  vibrations  caused  in  the  air  by 
the  human  voice  was  in  itself  no  easy  undertaking.  He  became  con- 
vinced that  in  order  to  talk  by  electricity  he  must  produce  a  variation 
in  the  intensity  of  the  electric  current  identical  with  that  caused  by 
an  equivalent  vocal  sound.  In  more  understandable  language,  Bell 
concluded  that  he  must  invent  a  continuous  instead  of  an  intermittent 
current.  Finally,  he  evolved  an  instrument  which  he  felt  justified  in 
patenting,  as  already  told,  early  in  1876  when  he  was  only  thirty 
years  old.  In  the  following  year  he  went  to  Europe  and  delivered  a 
series  of  lectures  on  his  epochal  invention. 

How  completely  Alexander  Graham  Bell  then  covered  the  ground 
with  his  invention  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  not  a  single 
electric  speaking  telephone  has  been  made  from  that  day  to  this  which 
is  not  based  on  the  patent  he  then  took  out. 

The  world  owes  the  telephone,  in  a  sense,  to  the  deaf.  It  was  the 
painstaking,  lifetime  efforts  of  three  generations  of  Bells  on  behalf  of 
children  and  men  and  women  afflicted  with  deficiencies  of  speech  that 
enabled  Graham  Bell  to  solve  the  problem  of  electric  telephony,  since 
the  professional  duties  of  his  ancestors  and  of  his  own  early  years  had 
led  him  to  study  every  phase  of  the  science  of  sound. 

Troubles,  vexations,  obstacles,  opposition,  disappointments  came 
to  Bell  before  honours  and  fame.     His  contrivance  was  ridiculed 


ALEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL  33 

by  the  newspapers  of  Europe  and  America,  and  even  technical  jour- 
nals at  first  refused  to  regard  it  seriously.  Capital  was  equally 
skeptical. 

One  man  who  had  faith  in  his  revolutionary  device  was  Gardiner 
G.  Hubbard,  the  inventor's  father-in-law,  a  man  of  means  and  of 
business  talent.  He  threw  himself  into  the  project  enthusiastically 
and  fought  valiantly  to  introduce  the  telephone  into  practical  use. 
Not  only  were  Bell  and  Hubbard  confronted  with  all  the  initial 
troubles  incidental  to  designing  and  manufacturing  the  necessary 
instruments  and  paraphernalia,  but  they  were  attacked  and  embar- 
rassed at  every  turn  by  the  all-powerful  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  associated  with  which  were  some  of  the  most  powerful 
interests  in  the  country.  A  young,  unknown  genius,  Edison,  was 
enlisted  by  this  rival  enterprise,  and  he  invented  a  meritorious  trans- 
mitter which  enabled  the  Western  Union  to  establish  a  competitive 
telephone  service. 

Europe  began  to  ring  with  Bell's  fame,  but  his  fortune  did  not  keep 
step.  Materials  were  expensive,  customers  were  hard  to  drum  up, 
and  one  or  two  of  the  early  long-distance  lines  would  not  at  first  work 
satisfactorily.  It  was  at  this  stage  that  Theodore  N.  Vail,  a  young 
man  of  boundless  energy  and  irrepressible  enthusiasm,  consented  to 
join  Bell  and  Hubbard.  He  had  as  much  faith  in  the  worth  of  the 
telephone  as  its  inventor  himself  had.  He  also  had  extraordinary 
foresight  and  brilliant  business  ability. 

Like  most  really  great  men,  Alexander  Graham  Bell  is  modest,  so 
modest  that  he  never  loses  an  opportunity  to  emphasize  the  part 
played  by  others  in  the  development  of  the  telephone. 

"Great  discoveries  and  improvements  invariably  involve  the  co- 
operation of  many  minds,"  he  declares.  "I  may  perhaps  take  credit 
for  having  blazed  the  trail  for  the  others  v.ho  have  come  after  me, 
but  when  I  look  at  the  phenomenal  developments  of  the  telephone 
and  at  the  great  system  that  bears  my  name,  I  feel  that  the  credit  for 
these  developments  is  due  to  others  rather  than  to  myself.  Why,  I 
do  not  even  understand  how  it  has  been  made  possible  to  talk  into  a 
telephone  at  Washington  and  have  a  man  on  the  Eiffel  Tower  in  Paris 
hear  what  is  said  without  wires  having  been  employed,  or  how  a  man 
in  Honolulu  can  overhear  that  conversation  between  this  country  and 
France. 

"When  I  look  back  upon  the  past,  to  the  very  beginning  of  the 
telephone,  I  can  remember  men  whose  names  are  hardly  ever  heard 
of  in  connection  with  the  telephone,  yet  who,  by  their  advice  and  their 
sympathy  and  their  financial  support,  laid  the  very  foundations  for 
what  we  have  to-day." 

The  French  Government  awarded  him  the  Volta  prize  of  50,000 


34  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

francs  for  his  historic  achievement  and  it  was  characteristic  of  Mr. 
Bell  that  he  applied  this  money,  with  a  substantial  addition  out  of  his 
own  pocket,  to  founding  the  Volta  Bureau  in  Washington  "for  the 
increase  and  diffusion  of  knowledge  relating  to  the  deaf"  Later  he 
founded,  at  a  cost  of  over  $300,000,  the  American  Association  to 
Promote  the  Teaching  of  Speech  to  the  Deaf,  and  became  its  active 
president.  To  this  notable  work  of  brightening  the  lot  of  persons  un- 
able to  hear,  he  devoted  himself  wholeheartedly,  even  during  periods 
when  his  labours  might  have  been  directed  with  greater  pecuniary 
profit  to  business  affairs.  He  became  the  author  of  "The  Education 
of  Deaf  Children,"  "Memoirs  on  the  Formation  of  a  Deaf  Variety  of 
the  Human  Race,"  and  "Lectures  on  the  Mechanism  of  Speech." 

Romance  has  blended  with  Dr.  Bell's  interest  in  the  deaf.  In  1877 
he  married  Mabel  Gardiner  Hubbard,  daughter  of  Gardiner  Hubbard 
(a  regent  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution),  a  young  woman  who  had 
lost  her  hearing  in  infancy  and  had  derived  great  benefit  from  Pro- 
fessor Bell's  scientific  research  and  teaching  on  this  subject. 

Had  Alexander  Graham  Bell  never  brought  forth  the  telephone  his 
other  achievements  would  have  won  him  distinction.  He  is  the  father 
of  a  wonderful  little  device,  the  telephone  probe,  for  revealing  pain- 
lessly the  presence  and  the  location  of  bullets  in  the  human  body. 
He  had  an  important  hand  in  the  invention  of  the  graphophone, 
jointly  with  C.  A.  Bell  and  S.  Taintor.  Scientists  rate  highly,  also, 
Bell's  achievements  in  connection  with  the  induction  balance.  A 
generation  ago  he  told  the  American  Academy  of  Sciences  all  about 
his  discovery  of  the  photophone.  Even  before  then  the  Royal  So- 
ciety in  London  had  been  addressed  by  him  on  the  action  of  light  on 
selenium  plates. 

Twenty-seven  years  ago  Dr.  Bell  established  a  modest  fund  to 
promote  the  then  novel  project  of  aviation.  By  evolving  the  tetrahe- 
dral  kite  he  succeeded  in  lifting  and  sustaining  in  the  air  upward  of 
300  pounds,  exclusive  of  the  weight  of  the  machine,  a  more  substantial 
result  than  Benjamin  Franklin's  experiments  with  kites  brought  forth. 
Largely  because  of  his  undying  international  fame  as  inventor  of  the 
telephone,  Bell's  wonderful  pioneer  work  in  aviation  and  in  other 
spheres  of  applied  science  has  won  him  no  universal  recognition, 
although  in  scientific  circles  it  is  reckoned  at  its  true  value. 

There  is  a  Farmer  Bell  as  well  as  an  Inventor  Bell.  Although  his 
chief  residence  is  in  Washington,  he  spends  a  large  part  of  each  year 
on  his  extensive  estate  in  Nova  Scotia.  Here,  also,  the  scientist  in 
him  crops  up,  for  he  has  applied  science  to  the  breeding  of  sheep. 
He  knows  more  about  sheep  than  a  Scottish  shepherd  and  has  written 
as  illuminatingly  on  these  humble  animals  as  on  abstract  and  applied 
sciences. 


ALEXANDER  GRAHAM  BELL  35 

The  patriarchal  figure  of  Dr.  Bell  Is  one  of  the  best  known  in  Wash- 
ington, to  whose  intellectual  life  he  has  contributed  immeasurably. 
His  long  white  hair  and  ample  beard,  his  striking  forehead  and  his 
keen,  kindly  eyes  at  once  attract  attention,  suggesting  a  man  of  dis- 
tinction. 

In  his  case  it  cannot  be  said  that  his  attainments  have  not  won  him 
honour  in  his  own  country.  He  is  a  regent  of  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution, has  been  president  of  the  National  Geographic  Society, 
president  of  the  American  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  and  an 
honorary  or  active  member  of  a  long  list  of  various  scientific  and 
philosophic  bodies.  He  Is  an  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  while 
his  contributions  to  the  advancement  and  enhancement  of  civilization 
have  also  won  him  innumerable  medals  and  degrees  from  scientific 
societies  and  universities  in  all  parts  of  the  world. 

As  Edwin  Markham,  the  poet,  so  fitly  expressed  it  on  the  occasion 
of  the  presentation  to  Dr.  Bell  of  the  New  York  Civic  Forum  "Medal 
of  Honour  for  Distinguished  Public  Service"  last  March,  the  tele- 
phone, the  child  of  Bell's  brain — 

Dispels  the  distances,  shrinks  up  the  spaces. 
Brings  back  the  voices  and  the  vanished  faces. 
Holds  men  together  though  the  feet  may  roam. 
Makes  of  each  land  a  little  friendly  home! 

The  wires  are  everywhere. 
The  tingling  nerves  of  the  air. 
Be-netting  cities,  speaking  for  all  hearts, 
From  floor  to  floor  their  whispered  lightning  darts. 
Looping  the  prairies,  leaping  hills  and  lakes. 
Over  the  world  their  whispered  lightning  shakes. 
They  stitch  the  farms  and  link  the  battle-line: 
They  tread  the  Alps  and  down  the  Congo  twine; 
They  throb  among  the  Pyramids,  and  speak 
Where  Fujiyama  lifts  her  perfect  peak. 

America  may  proudly  claim  as  her  own  the  two  most  illustrious 
electrical  geniuses  the  world  has  produced — no,  not  claim  them  as 
her  own,  for  Edison  and  Bell  belong  to  the  whole  human  race,  since 
the  whole  human  family  are  their  grateful  debtors. 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE 

ANDREW  CARNEGIE  probably  will  leave  the  smallest  for- 

/-%  tune  of  any  modern  American  Croesus — perhaps  nearly  a 
-^  -^  billion  dollars  less  than  John  D.  Rockefeller,  a  hundred  mil- 
lions less  than  Frick,  and  less,  too,  than  was  left  by  Morgan,  Hill, 
Harriman,  the  Harknesses,  Russell  Sage,  Hetty  Green,  or  John  Jacob 
Astor. 

Carnegie  has  given  away  $325,000,000  and  has,  I  am  told,  less  than 
$30,000,000  left. 

Carnegie's  original  investment  in  steel-making  was  $250,000.  In 
27  years  he  sold  out  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company  to  Morgan's  Steel 
Corporation  for  $300,000,000  in  bonds,  nearly  $100,000,000  in  pre- 
ferred stock  and  $90,000,000  common  stock.  Carnegie,  canny  Scot,  took 
the  bonds  and  left  thes  tock  for  his  forty  partners,  who  owned  about 
40  per  cent,  and  Carnegie  about  60  per  cent,  of  the  Carnegie  Company. 

In  his  "Gospel  of  Wealth"  he  formulated  this  cardinal  article  of 
his  faith: 

"The  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  man  who  dies  leaving  behind 
him  millions  of  available  wealth,  which  were  free  for  him  to  administer 
during  life,  will  pass  away  'unwept,  unhonoured,  and  unsung,'  no 
matter  to  what  use  he  leaves  the  dross  which  he  cannot  take  with  him. 
Of  such  as  these  the  public  verdict  will  then  be:  'The  man  who  dies 
thus  rich  dies  disgraced.'" 

Elsewhere  he  has  recorded:  "I  would  as  soon  leave  to  my  son  a 
curse  as  the  almighty  dollar." 

Carnegie  has  no  son,  only  one  daughter,  born  in  1897.  She  will 
not  be  one  of  the  world's  richest  heiresses. 

Carnegie,  relatively  speaking,  will  die  poor.  He  is  now  82  and 
feeble. 

Modern  history  contains  only  one  character  comparable  to  Car- 
negie— ^John  D.  Rockefeller.  Carnegie  created  "a  new  era,"  the  era 
of  stupendous  philanthropy — no,  not  exactly  a  new  era,  for  he  had  his 
prototype  in  the  palmy  days  of  Greece  and  of  Rome,  when  rulers  and 
wealthy  nobles  distributed  largess  with  equally  lavish  hand. 

No  American  has  been  more  extolled — and  few  more  execrated. 
He  has  been  invested  with  all  the  virtues  of  a  saint — and  condemned 
as  a  bloodstained  tyrant  and  slave-driver.  To  him  some  have  as- 
cribed wisdom,  foresight,  and  ability  not  less  than  superhuman; 

36 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE  37 

others  have  portrayed  him  as  a  popinjay,  the  incarnation  of  smug  self- 
satisfaction,  the  fortunate  creature  of  circumstances,  whose  only  claim 
to  distinction  he  himself  set  down  in  the  epitaph  he  composed  for  his 
tombstone — "Here  lies  one  who  knew  how  to  get  around  him  men 
who  were  cleverer  than  himself." 

He  has  been  called  both  a  capitalistic  socialist  and  a  czar  who  re- 
fused to  countenance  any  man,  even  the  brainiest,  as  his  equal  in  the 
realm  of  business. 

Because  he  has  no  fixed  religious  belief,  the  epithet  "atheist"  has 
been  hurled  at  him  all  through  his  career,  yet  he  has  given  donations 
for  7,000  church  organs — "Listening  to  music,  particularly  that  of  the 
organ,  is  a  form  of  religious  expression  to  him,"  declares  an  intimate. 

He  has  been  accused  of  having  quarrelled  with  and  hoodwinked 
more  of  his  associates  than  any  other  man  in  industrial  history.  "No 
man  ever  made  so  many  men  millionaires  or  shared  his  profits  so 
lavishly"  is  the  verdict  of  such  men  as  Schwab  and  Corey  who  shared 
freely  of  his  bounties  and  bonuses. 

"The  modern  Patron  Saint  of  Scotland"  he  has  been  called — yet 
the  people  of  his  native  town,  carried  away  by  their  indignation  at  his 
peace  views  in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  splattered  his  statue  with 
mud  and  filth. 

In  face  of  all  this,  what  is  the  truth  ?  Is  he  an  enigma  ?  Are  there 
two  Carnegies,  saint  and  devil,  Jekyll  and  Hyde? 

Before  I  undertook  a  close  study  of  Carnegie's  life  I  had  imbibed 
several  unfavourable  ideas  from  my  elders  in  Carnegie's  native  country. 
They  disliked  his  ostentatious  "cantrips."  Some  resented  the  name 
"CARNEGI  E"  being  plastered  over  buildings  he  helped  to  erect 
— and  then  left  the  struggling  tax-payers  to  support.  Stories  of 
his  arrogance,  his  impatience  of  contradiction  by  even  the  greatest 
experts  and  specialists  in  any  line,  his  overweening  self-satisfaction,  his 
atheistic  preachments,  his  never-ceasing  slurs  upon  the  royal  family — 
such  stories  were  rife  in  Highland  glens  and  hamlets  and  cities. 

I  want  to  say,  however,  that  fuller  knowledge  has  modified  my 
preconceived  views  and  removed  many  misconceptions.  I  am  no 
hero-worshipper;  but  in  my  judgment  Carnegie's  admirable  qualities 
far  outweigh  his  foibles,  many  of  which  were  inspired  in  the  early 
days,  not  by  vanity,  but  by  business  motives. 

When  as  a  young  man  he  invited  the  Prince  of  Wales  to  ride  on  a 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  engine  he  had  an  eye  solely  to  future  business 
favours — and  he  got  them.  When  he  moved  in  prominent  social 
places  in  New  York,  still  higher  political  and  diplomatic  circles  in 
Washington,  and  hobnobbed  with  European  royalties,  it  was  with  no 
thought  of  shining  in  the  society  columns  of  newspapers;  it  was  more 
for  the  sake  of  the  "profit"  columns  in  his  ledgers. 


38  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Later,  people  of  eminence  and  intellect  sought  the  company  of 
Carnegie  less  for  the  sake  of  his  purse  than  for  his  personality.  He 
travelled  everywhere  and  saw  everything  with  intelligent  eyes.  His 
scanty  schooling  was  supplemented  by  subsequent  study,  guided  and 
coached  by  a  tutor.  He  became  a  man  of  genuine  education  and  of 
wonderful  knowledge.  The  volumes  that  appeared  under  his  name 
were  not  written,  as  many  supposed,  by  others.  He  could  recite  half 
of  Shakespeare  and  all  of  Burns  and  was  deeply  read  in  many  subjects. 

Before  his  wealth  became  notable  his  close  British  friends  included 
such  intellectual  giants  as  Gladstone,  Rosebery,  Morley,  Herbert 
Spencer,  Mathew  Arnold,  and  James  Bryce. 

In  such  company  Carnegie  could  hold  his  own.  He  was  a  fine 
story-teller;  he  was  cheerful;  he  had  unbounded  faith  in  the  future;  he 
loved  life  and  he  loved  the  world  and  its  inhabitants.  He  was  not 
immersed  completely  in  steel;  the  truth  is,  no  steel  man  ever  knew  less 
about  steel  than  Carnegie  did — but  no  man  ever  knew  how  to  capture 
bigger  orders,  how  to  secure  better  results  from  workmen,  or  how  to 
pick  from  the  ranks  such  able  partners.  After  his  youthful  struggles 
he,  like  John  D.  Rockefeller,  took  life  easier  than  any  of  his  associates 
— and  has  outlived  the  majority  of  them. 

Carnegie  admittedly  drove  his  partners,  his  superintendents  and 
other  aspiring  hopefuls  like  slaves,  both  for  their  own  financial  advan- 
tage and  his.  But  he  treated  the  workmen  "white"  and  was  warmly 
regarded  by  them. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  analyze  the  causes  of  Carnegie's  quarrels  with 
other  giants  in  the  industry.  His  falling-out  with  Frick,  for  example, 
was  inevitable  in  the  nature  of  the  men  and  the  evolving  economic 
conditions. 

Carnegie  ridiculed  kings  and  monarchs,  yet  he  set  up  a  business 
monarchy  and  crowned  himself  king.  His  word  was  as  autocratic  as 
that  of  the  ex-Czar  of  Russia  or  the  Sultan  of  Turkey.  His  favourites 
became  courtiers,  but  none  must  attempt  to  seek  or  force  a  place  on  the 
throne.  Able  men  whom  he  raised  from  the  ranks  and  made  wealthy 
by  his  system  of  bonuses  and  profit-sharing,  worshipped  their  maker. 
His  arrogance,  his  slave-driving,  his  masterfulness  they  accepted  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Since  Carnegie  paid  the  fiddler,  it  was  fitting  he 
should  have  complete  right  to  call  the  tune.  And  they  were  content 
to  dance  to  the  Carnegie  music. 

These  methods  worked  all  right  with  subordinates,  but  equals  would 
not  stand  his  highhandedness. 

Henry  C.  Frick  was  already  a  man  of  wealth  and  power  when  he 
joined  Carnegie.  He  foresaw  the  coming  evolution  in  the  conduct  of 
big  business.  He  realized  the  interdependence  of  industrial,  railroad 
and  financial  interests.     He  saw  that  the  day  of  independent  mon- 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE  39 

archs  was  passed;  he  believed  in  a  more  democratic  form  of  business 
administration.  Instead  of  a  czar,  there  must  be  control  by  states- 
men, by  directors.  Frick  was  at  home  among  his  equals  in  brains  and 
power;  Carnegie  would  admit  of  no  equals  and  would  share  his  sceptre 
with  no  one.  Frick  adapted  himself  to  the  new  economic  order; 
Carnegie  was  of  the  old  school — where  Carnegie  sat  that  must  be  the 
head  of  the  table. 

It  is  not  true,  however,  that  Carnegie  hoodwinked  partner  after 
partner  into  parting  with  his  stock  to  him  at  cruelly  low  figures. 
The  explanation  in  most  cases  was  that,  when  storms  of  depression 
broke,  his  associates  lost  faith  in  steel,  whereas  Andrew  Carnegie,  from 
the  first  time  he  saw  a  Bessemer  furnace  in  operation  (in  England), 
never  once  lost  confidence  in  the  metal.  He  could  always  peer  beyond 
the  darkest  clouds  and  see  in  steel  something  of  infinite  importance  to 
the  progress  of  the  world.  Never  for  a  moment  did  he  doubt  that 
molten  streams  of  iron  could  be  transformed  into  streams  of  gold. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  no  employer  ever  shared  his  profits 
so  generously  with  his  co-workers  as  did  Carnegie.  But  power  he 
would  not  share. 

If  I  were  to  attempt  to  describe  Andrew  Carnegie  in  one  comprehen- 
sive sentence  I  would  say  that,  as  a  boy  and  youth,  he  worked  pro- 
digiously and  displayed  extraordinary  alertness  in  seizing  opportuni- 
ties; that  he  glorified  his  parents  and  treated  his  mother  with  the  most 
beautiful  reverence;  that  through  intense  study  and  very  extensive 
travel  he  became  a  man  of  no  mean  culture;  that  he  early  manifested 
extraordinary  skill  in  financiering  and  pulled  ofi^  more  clever  deals 
than  any  man  of  his  day;  that  he  treated  his  workmen  with  considera- 
tion and  inspired  talent  by  his  generous,  adroit  system  of  sharing 
profits  with  those  who  contributed  to  the  attainment  of  successful 
results;  that  in  temperament  he  was  strong-willed  to  the  point  of 
arrogance,  and  distinctly  vainglorious,  though,  at  the  same  time,  he 
had  simple  habits  and  democratic  ways;  finally,  that,  by  his  example 
of  prodigal  giving,  mostly  for  worthy  purposes,  he  has  done  much  to 
take  the  curse  from  inordinate  riches  and  to  force  other  millionaires  to 
spend  large  parts  of  their  fortunes  for  the  benefit  of  humanity,  thus, 
by  his  own  deeds  and  by  his  example,  furthering  incalculably  the 
brotherhood  of  man. 

And  now  let  us  rapidly  trace  the  steps  by  which  the  immigrant  son 
of  a  poor  weaver  rose  to  be  emperor  of  the  world  of  steel. 

Born  in  Dunfermline  in  1835,  the  son  of  a  handloom  weaver,  An- 
drew Carnegie  had  little  schooling  and  early  sought  to  contribute 
to  the  family  purse.  When  ten  he  saved  enough  to  buy  a  box  of 
oranges  which  he  peddled  profitably  to  retailers!  The  introduction 
of  steam-driven  looms  forced  the  Carnegie  family,  consisting  of  the 


40  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

parents  and  two  sons,  Andrew  and  Tom,  to  emigrate  to  America 
when  Andy  was  twelve.  They  took  up  their  abode  at  Barefoot  Square, 
Slabtown,  Allegheny,  Pa.,  where  relatives  had  settled.  The  father 
got  a  job  in  a  cotton  mill  and  Andy  was  taken  in  as  a  bobbin  boy 
at  $1.20  a  week.  His  mother  took  in  washing  and  sewed  boots  for 
a  next-door  shoemaker  named  Phipps,  with  whose  ten-year-old  son, 
Harry,  the  little  immigrant  became  fast  friends. 

"The  genuine  satisfaction  I  had  from  that  $1.20  outweighs  any 
subsequent  pleasure  in  money-getting,"  Carnegie  declared  some 
years  ago. 

He  worked  from  darkness  in  the  morning  until  darkness  every 
evening,  with  only  forty  minutes'  respite  at  noon.  The  thought, 
however,  that  he  had  been  "admitted  to  the  family  partnership  as 
a  contributing  member"  comforted  and  sustained  him. 

A  friendly  Scotsman  next  gave  him  work  in  his  bobbin  factory  at 
$1.80  a  week,  but  here  his  duties  included  firing  the  boiler.  "The 
responsibility,"  he  chronicles,  "of  keeping  the  water  right  and  of 
running  the  engine  and  the  danger  of  my  making  a  mistake  and  blow- 
ing the  whole  factory  to  pieces,  caused  too  great  a  strain,  and  I  woke 
and  found  myself  sitting  up  in  bed  through  the  night  trying  the  steam 
gauges.  But  I  never  told  them  at  home  that  I  was  having  a  hard 
tussle.     No,  no!     Everything  must  be  bright  to  them." 

Next,  a  former  resident  of  Dunfermline  gave  little  Andy  a  job  as  a 
telegraph  messenger  in  Pittsburgh  at  $2  ^  week.  Scared  lest  his  ig- 
norance of  the  city  might  cause  him  to  lose  his  place,  he  drilled  him- 
self so  industriously  that  he  was  soon  able  to  close  his  eyes  and  rattle 
off  the  name  and  address  of  every  business  house  throughout  the 
business  section  of  the  city!  He  went  to  the  office  early  and  secretly 
practised  on  the  telegraph  instruments. 

One  morning  Philadelphia  was  clamouring  to  send  a  "death  mes- 
sage," and  Andy,  in  the  absence  of  any  operator,  took  the  message 
over  the  wire  and  promptly  delivered  it  before  the  office  opened  for 
business.  Instead  of  being,  as  he  feared,  dismissed  for  his  audacity, 
he  was  soon  promoted  to  be  an  operator,  "and  received  the,  to  me, 
enormous  recompense  of  $25  per  month,  ^300  a  year."  He  did  extra 
work  in  copying  press  messages  which  brought  him  ^i  additional 
weekly  and  also  brought  him  into  contact  every  evening  with  the 
morning  newspaper  reporters. 

Thomas  A.  Scott,  then  the  Pittsburgh  superintendent  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Railroad,  who  often  visited  the  telegraph  office  to  talk  to 
the  General  Superintendent  at  Altoona,  noted  the  energetic  young 
operator,  and  when  the  railroad  put  up  a  wire  of  its  own,  Carnegie 
was  installed  as  clerk  and  operator  at  $35  per  month. 

An  accident  tied  up  the  road  one  day  when  the  Superintendent  was 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE  41 

not  at  hand  and  Carnegie,  on  his  own  initiative,  made  the  wires  sizzle 
with  instructions  signed  "Thomas  A.  Scott."  This  was  against  all 
rules,  but  Carnegie  had  adopted  as  his  motto  one  he  has  often  quoted 
since — "  Break  orders  to  save  owners."  Scott  made  him  his  private 
secretary  at  $50  a  month  and  started  Carnegie  on  his  way  to  fortune. 

"Could  you  find  $500  to  invest.?"  Mr.  Scott  asked  him  one  day. 
"Yes,  sir,  I  think  I  can,"  he  replied,  although  how  or  where  he  was  to 
get  so  huge  a  sum  he  had  not  the  faintest  notion.  Scott  explained 
that  an  owner  of  ten  shares  of  Adams  Express  Company  stock  had 
died  and  that  it  could  be  purchased  for  ^50  a  share.  The  Carnegie 
family  savings  had  gone  to  purchase  a  small  house  in  order  to  save 
rent.  The  resourceful  mother,  "The  Oracle,"  as  Andy  termed  her, 
solved  the  problem  by  taking  a  steamer  next  morning  for  Ohio  and 
mortgaging  the  home  to  an  uncle,  "to  give  our  boy  a  start." 

His  first  dividend  check,  "a  mysterious  golden  visitor,"  set  Car- 
negie thinking.  This  way,  he  saw,  lay  fortune.  Soon  afterward 
Woodruff,  the  inventor,  showed  the  private  secretary  the  model  of  a 
sleeping  car  and  he  at  once  became  enthusiastic.  When  offered  a 
share  in  the  venture,  Carnegie  accepted.  Again  he  had  not  the 
necessary  funds,  but  he  boldly  visited  the  local  banker  and  asked  for  a 
loan. 

"Oh,  yes,  Andy,  you  are  all  right,"  said  the  banker,  and  the  name 
"Andrew  Carnegie"  was  for  the  first  time  signed  to  a  note — he  was 
subsequently  to  be  one  of  the  world's  most  persistent  borrowers. 

Scott  aided  him  at  every  turn  in  his  financial  operations,  and  when, 
during  the  Civil  War,  Scott  was  made  vice-president  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania, Carnegie  was  chosen  to  fill  Scott's  place  as  superintendent  at 
Pittsburgh.  Both  rendered  yeoman  service  to  their  country  in  the 
transportation  and  telegraph  fields  during  the  war. 

Carnegie  was  then  28  and  something  of  a  capitalist.  The  burning 
of  a  wooden  bridge  played  havoc  with  railroad  traffic  and  this  set  the 
keen-eyed  Scotsman  a-thinking. 

"Why  not  go  into  the  building  of  iron  bridges.'"'  he  asked  himself. 
Forthwith  heorganized  the  Keystone  Bridge  Company,  and — wise  man 
— secured  J.  Edgar  Thompson,  then  president  of  the  Pennsylvania, 
Colonel  Scott,  vice-president,  and  other  influential  railroad  men  as 
stockholders.  With  such  influence  behind  it,  the  company  booked 
huge  orders  at  such  prices  that  it  paid  a  total  of  100  per  cent,  in  divi- 
dends in  four  years.  He  entered  a  successful  oil  venture  and  several 
metal  enterprises,  including  the  Kloman-Miller-Phipps-Carnegie 
Company,  which  owned  the  Union  Iron  Mills.  Indeed,  he  became  so 
much  of  a  business  man  and  capitalist  that  he  gave  up  his  railroad 
office. 

Off  he  went  for  a  nine  months'  tour  in  Great  Britain,  leaving  his 


42  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

partners  to  run  the  iron  mills.  Then  disaster  came.  Depression 
set  in,  iron  prices  fell  and  the  Union  Iron  Mills  faced  disaster.  Miller, 
the  most  wealthy  of  the  partners,  had  to  advance  money  for  work- 
men's wages.  In  lieu  of  cash  m^ny  workmen  were  given  orders  for 
groceries  on  a  village  store.  Stocks  of  pig  iron  had  to  be  pawned. 
Then,  to  cap  the  climax,  the  puddlers  struck.  Miller  quit.  He  sold 
for  $73 ,600  stock  which  thirty-four  years  later,  when  the  steel  trust  was 
formed,  brought  millions  of  dollars. 

Carnegie  hustled  for  orders  from  his  railroad  friends,  and  although 
he  knew  next  to  nothing  about  steel,  he  booked  more  contracts  than 
any  other  drummer  of  his  day.  By  effective  team-work  among  the 
young  partners,  they  managed  to  pull  through. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  Carnegie  for  a  time  was  a  bond 
broker.  In  1872  he  was  given  a  commission  to  place  in  Europe 
$6,000,000  of  bonds  of  a  Pennsylvania  branch  road  and  cleared 
$150,000.  Later  he  made  a  second  trip  and  earned  $75,000  com- 
mission. 

When  in  England  he  saw  the  Bessemer  process  of  making  steel. 
The  sight  of  iron  being  blown  into  steel  captured  his  imagination. 
Henceforth  steel  was  to  be  his  life.  Rushing  across  the  Atlantic  he 
organized  Carnegie,  McCandless  &  Company  with  a  capital  of 
$700,000  which  built  a  new  steel  plant  which  he,  wily  Scot,  named 
the  Edgar  Thompson  Steel  Works.  Thus  flattered,  how  could  the 
president  of  the  Pennsylvania  refuse  his  namesake  generous  rebates? 

The  name  "Carnegie"  began  to  be  sounded  all  over  the  United 
States  and  Europe,  whither  he  made  frequent  and  spectacular  trips. 
This  was  just  after  the  1873  panic.  Protected  by  a  huge  tariff  on  the 
one  hand  and  aided  by  rebates  on  the  other,  profits  were  piled  up 
thick  and  fast.  In  1880  steel  rails  were  run  up  to  $85  a  ton,  the  works 
were  run  twenty-four  hours  a  day,  and  the  year's  profits  exceeded 
$2,000,000. 

The  following  year  the  company  was  reorganized  as  Carnegie  Bros. 
&  Co.,  with  $5,000,000  capital,  of  which  Carnegie  owned  more  than 
half.  From  then  until  1888  the  profits  averaged  $2,000,000  a  year, 
or  40  per  cent.     Carnegie  had  rolled  up  a  fortune  of  $15,000,000. 

As  partners  died  or  dropped  out,  Carnegie  took  over  their  interest 
in  the  concern.  Finally,  only  Carnegie  and  Henry  Phipps — with 
whom,  later,  he  quarrelled — were  left.  Competitors,  too,  including  the 
Homestead  and  Duquesne  Companies,  were  astutely  bought  out  until 
Carnegie  becahie  undisputed  steel  king. 

Frick's  enormous  coke  properties  in  the  Connellsville  district  of 
Pennsylvania  were  acquired  by  Carnegie  in  1882  and  Henry  C.  Frick 
for  years  was  Carnegie's  most  trusted  associate.  The  combination 
lasted  until  1899,  when  the  two  parted  company. 


ANDREW  CARNEGIE  43 

The  Carnegie  Steel  Company  was  reorganized  with  Carnegie  in 
undisputed  control.  How  he  surrounded  himself  with  such  brilliant 
practical  steel  men  as  Captain  "Bill"  Jones,  Schwab,  Corey,  Dinkey, 
and  Morrison,  and  paid  them  enormous  bonuses  for  results  achieved; 
how  he  threatened  competitors  by  announcing  that  he  would  build 
new  plants  and  even  build  a  new  railroad  to  bring  the  Pennsylvania 
to  its  senses;  how  he  frightened  the  country's  leading  money  kings, 
and  how  he  finished  up  by  selling  out  to  the  organizers  of  the  steel 
trust,  are  too  well  known  to  call  for  recapitulation. 

His  benefactions  have  included  $60,000,000  for  over  2,500  library 
buildings;  $125,000,000  for  the  Carnegie  Corporation  of  New  York; 
$17,000,000  for  colleges;  $6,000,000  for  church  organs;  $22,000,000 
for  the  Carnegie  Institution  of  Washington;  $16,000,000  for  the 
Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching;  $13,000,000 
for  the  Carnegie  Institute  at  Pittsburgh;  $10,000,000  for  the  Carnegie 
Institute  of  Technology;  over  $10,000,000  for  Carnegie  hero  funds; 
$10,000,000  for  the  endowment  of  international  peace;  $4,000,000 
for  steel  workers'  pensions;  $2,000,000  for  the  Church  Peace  Union, 
and  $1,500,000, for  the  Hague  peace  palace. 

It  is  as  a  giver,  not  as  a  maker,  of  millions  that  Carnegie  will  live 
in  history. 


HENRY  P.  DAVISON 

MR.  MORGAN  wants  to  see  you  in  his  library  at  three  o'clock," 
was  the  message  received  one  day  by  the  vice-president  of  a 
New  York  bank. 

He  hadn't  the  slightest  idea  what  the  veteran  financier  could  want 
with  him.  He  had  met  Mr.  Morgan,  as  most  other  financiers  had, 
during  the  parlous  days  when  the  master  mind  of  them  all  was  trying 
to  stem  the  1907  panic,  but  had  not  seen  anything  of  Mr.  Morgan 
until  the  spring  of  the  following  year  when,  with  Senator  Aldrich  and 
other  members  of  the  Monetary  Commission,  he  had  spent  a  Sunday 
at  Mr.  Morgan's  London  home.  Between  then  and  the  receipt  of 
the  above  message  in  the  fall  of  1908  he  had  seldom  spoken  to  Mr, 
Morgan. 

Promptly  at  three  o'clock  the  young  banker,  wondering  what  the 
matter  could  be,  rang  the  bell  of  the  famous  Morgan  library.  On 
being  ushered  in  he  almost  collided  with  Mr.  Morgan  at  the  entrance 
to  his  private  room. 

Mr.  Morgan  shook  hands  and  bade  the  puzzled  visitor  be  seated. 

"Do  you  realize  it  is  pretty  near  the  first  of  January?"  he  asked. 

The  young  banker,  very  much  at  sea,  agreed  that  it  was — this  was 
about  the  middle  of  November. 

"Are  you  ready?"  asked  Mr.  Morgan. 

"Ready  for  what?"  queried  the  astonished  visitor. 

"For  what?"  echoed  Mr.  Morgan.  "You  know  I  want  you  to 
come  and  join  my  firm  on  the  first  of  January." 

"You  never  said  anything  about  it,  Mr.  Morgan." 

"I  thought  you  knew  by  my  attitude  what  I  thought  of  you,"  said 
Mr.  Morgan. 

A  pause. 

"Mr.  Morgan,  have  you  ever  fallen  from  an  18-story  building?" 

It  was  Mr.  Morgan's  turn  to  be  astonished. 

"No,"  he  replied,  scrutinizing  his  visitor. 

"Well,  I  never  have  before,  and  it  will  take  me  a  minute  or  two  to 
catch  my  breath." 

Mr.  Morgan  laughed. 

And  that  was  how  Henry  P.  Davison,  then  only  40,  was  notified 
of  his  selection  as  a  partner  in  the  greatest  international  banking  firm 
in  the  United  States. 

44 


H.  P.  DAVISON 


HENRY  P.  DAVISON  45 

The  story  of  how  this  same  young  banker  won  his  first  foothold  on 
the  New  York  banking  ladder  reveals  the  stuff  he  is  made  of. 

He  had  quickly  risen  from  office-boy  to  receiving  teller  in  a  modest 
bank  at  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  when  he  read  in  the  newspapers  that  a 
new  bank  was  being  formed  in  New  York.  Young  Davison  wanted  to 
go  to  New  York.  He  wanted  to  go  very  badly.  In  fact,  he  made 
up  his  mind  that  he  must  get  a  position  in  this  new  bank. 

Armed  with  a  letter  from  one  of  his  directors  who  knew  the  cashier, 
he  took  the  afternoon  train  to  New  York  and  handed  in  the  letter. 

The  cashier  treated  him  most  cordially — so  cordially  that  the  young 
man  left  smiling,  although  without  any  job. 

His  smiles  wore  off  when  he  got  into  the  train  homeward  bound  and 
thought  matters  over. 

But  he  was  not  to  be  so  easily  licked!  Next  afternoon,  when  the 
bank  closed,  he  again  boarded  a  New  York  train.  The  cashier, 
although  somewhat  surprised  to  see  him  back,  again  accorded  him  a 
very  pleasant  interview,  but  explained  that  it  was  out  of  the  question 
to  engage  an  out-of-town  man  as  paying  teller — that  was  the  office 
Davison  was  after.  They  must  have  a  man  with  New  York  experi- 
ence and  of  wide  acquaintance.  The  cashier  was  so  frank  and  sym- 
pathetic, however,  that  for  the  second  time  it  was  a  smiling  youth 
who  left  his  presence. 

The  homeward  journey,  however,  again  dissipated  the  smiles. 

He  would  try  again! 

Next  afternoon,  for  the  third  time,  he  started  for  New  York  more 
determined  than  ever  to  get  the  place  he  wanted. 

"The  cashier  has  gone  for  the  day,"  was  the  chilling  message  he 
received. 

"Where  does  he  live?"  asked  young  Davison,  undaunted. 

In  half  an  hour  he  was  inside  the  cashier's  home.  A  servant  ex- 
plained that  his  employer  was  dressing  to  go  out  to  attend  a  dinner. 
All  right,  the  visitor  would  wait. 

On  entering  the  room  the  banker  burst  out  laughing.  So  did 
Davison,  but  only  for  a  moment.  He  at  once  got  down  to  brass 
tacks. 

He  began  with  all  the  intense  earnestness  he  felt:  "I  know  I  am 
the  man  you  want  for  paying  teller.  I  can  help  you.  I  feel  embar- 
rassed at  having  to  say  this  myself,  but  there  is  no  one  to  say  it  for 
me.  Give  me  the  position  and  I  will  try  to  see  that  you  will  never 
regret  it," 

The  ardour,  the  sincerity,  and  the  perseverance  of  the  young  man 
made  such  an  impression  upon  the  banker  that  he  became  convinced 
the  choice  would  prove  wise. 

"How  much  salary  would  you  want?"  he  asked. 


46  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"I  would  like  $1,500  but  I  would  take  $600  or  $700 — anything  you 
like,  so  long  as  I  can  live  on  it." 

This  time  it  was  the  paying  teller  of  the  Astor  Place  Bank,  at  $1,500, 
that  said  good-bye.  To  celebrate,  he  went  to  a  theatre.  The  big  news 
was  overpowering. 

"  Say,  do  you  know  who  I  am  ? "  he  abruptly  asked  a  stranger  sitting 
next  to  him.     The  man  looked  at  him  and  confessed  he  didn't. 

"I  am  the  paying  teller  of  a  New  York  bank!" 

Alas,  the  news  failed  to  make  any  tremendous  impression — except, 
probably,  that  the  man  thought  he  had  next  to  him  a  young  lunatic! 

Disappointment  was  in  store,  however.  Hardly  had  Davison 
given  up  his  position  and  returned  home  for  a  rest  before  entering 
upon  his  new  duties  when  he  received  a  letter  from  the  cashier  con- 
taining the  news  that  the  directors  had  not  endorsed  his  action,  and 
that  it  would  save  much  trouble  if  Mr.  Davison  would  forego  the  pay- 
ing tellership  and  accept  a  lower  position  at  a  smaller  salary.  He 
added  that  if  Mr.  Davison  insisted  in  standing  upon  his  rights,  of 
course  the  directors  would  have  to  agree. 

"  Perfectly  satisfied  to  accept  lower  position  and  salary,"  Mr. 
Davison  immediately  telegraphed — he  did  not  want  his  benefactor 
to  be  kept  in  any  suspense  during  the  time  a  letter  would  take  to  reach 
him. 

That  this  telegram  confirmed  the  cashier  in  his  sizing  up  of  the 
young  man  can  readily  be  understood. 

To  save  carfare,  the  ambitious  bank  clerk  used  to  ride  on  a  bicycle 
daily  to  and  from  the  bank  in  Astor  Place  to  104th  Street,  a  distance 
of  more  than  ten  miles. 

Henry  Pomeroy  Davison  had  early  learned  the  value  of  money — 
and,  also,  when  he  wanted  to  go  to  college,  the  terrible  awkwardness 
of  not  having  the  wherewithal.  His  mother  had  died  when  he  was 
seven  years  old — he  was  born  on  June  13,  1867 — and  the  four  children 
were  scattered  among  uncles  and  aunts.  He  attended  school  in  his 
little  native  town,  Troy,  Pa.,  until  he  was  15,  and  before  he  was 
16  he  was  teaching.  He  then  began  to  realize  the  value  of  education 
and  applied  himself  diligently  to  study.  His  grandmother,  with 
whom  he  was  then  living,  remarked  one  day:  "This  boy  may  be 
worth  doing  something  for."  So  she  arranged  to  have  him  attend 
boarding  school,  the  Greylock  Institute  at  South  Williamstown, 
Mass.,  where  Charles  H.  Sabin,  now  president  of  the  Guaranty 
Trust  Company  of  New  York,  the  largest  in  the  country,  was  one 
of  his  classmates. 

"Harry  Davison,"  Mr.  Sabin  told  me,  "was  at  the  top  of  every 
class  he  entered  and  was  valedictorian — but  he  was  not  much  at 
athletics.     He  was  very  popular  because  he  used,  every  morning,  to 


HENRY  P.  DAVISON  47 

let  a  crowd  look  over  his  answers  to  problems  and  other  stuff  given 
at  night.     He  was  always  willing  to  help  a  fellow  out." 

During  vacations  he  worked  on  a  farm.  On  graduating  he  re- 
turned to  Troy,  whose  1,200  people  supported  one  bank  run  by  his 
uncle.  A  place  was  made  for  Harry  as  errand  boy  in  it.  He  im- 
mediately became  intensely  interested  and  for  two  years  worked  very 
hard.  Troy,  however,  held  out  little  of  a  future  and  he  regretted 
deeply  that  he  had  not  gone  to  college.  He  began  tutoring  with  a 
view  to  entering  college.  But,  when  qualified,  he  realized  that  he 
did  not  have  the  necessary  money!  Then  he  made  up  his  mind  to 
strike  out. 

He  went  to  New  York,  tramped  the  streets  looking  for  a  job,  but 
failed  to  find  one.  He  went  to  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  where  he  had  an 
old  friend.  There  he  was  given  choice  of  a  job  as  a  runner  in  the 
bank  or  a  clerk  in  a  grocery  store.     He  chose  the  bank. 

By  starting  early  in  the  morning  and  doing  as  much  as  possible 
of  his  own  work  by  noon,  he  found  time  to  stand  by  the  bookkeeper 
and  learn  from  him  how  to  keep  books.  In  a  few  months  he  was  doing 
most  of  the  work  for  this  bookkeeper,  and  when  the  latter  was  pro- 
moted the  runner  got  the  job.  The  new  runner  was  at  once  taken  in 
hand  by  Bookkeeper  Davison  and  taught  bookkeeping.  Then  the 
bookkeeper  applied  himself  to  learning  all  about  the  teller's  work. 
When  the  next  shift  came  Davison  was  able  to  step  up  to  the  tellership 
and  the  runner  had  been  trained  to  become  bookkeeper.  He  applied 
exactly  the  same  method  in  his  new  position. 

"Then  and  ever  since  I  have  found  it  a  good  system,  not  only  to 
reach  out  and  learn  the  work  of  the  man  ahead  of  you,  but  also  to 
teach  your  job  to  the  fellow  below  you,"  said  Mr.  Davison. 

How  the  young  Bridgeport  teller  broke  into  New  York  has  already 
been  told.  Six  months  after  starting  as  receiving  teller  in  the  new 
Astor  Place  Bank  he  was  promoted  to  the  position  on  which  he  had 
at  first  set  his  heart,  that  of  paying  teller. 

Dame  Fortune  sometimes  plays  queer  pranks  to  accomplish  her 
ends.  Davison  was  "shot"  into  his  next  place.  One  day  a  crank 
pointed  a  revolver  at  Teller  Davison's  head,  presented  a  check  for 
$1,000  drawn  to  the  order  of  the  Almighty  and  demanded  the  money. 
Davison  coolly  accepted  the  check,  read  it  loud  enough  to  attract 
notice  and  began  to  count  out  the  money.  Others  grasped  the  situa- 
tion, and  while  the  gun  was  still  cocked  at  Davison's  head,  the  bank 
detective  seized  the  madman. 

The  newspapers  made  much  of  the  dramatic  incident  and  of 
the  teller's  self-possession.  The  directors  of  the  Liberty  National 
Bank  happened  to  have  a  meeting  that  day  and  the  holdup  was 
mentioned. 


48  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"I  know  that  young  fellow,"  said  Dumont  Clarke,  adlrector  of  the 
bank.     "He  would  be  a  good  man  to  have  in  the  bank." 

Mr.  Clarke  had  met  Davison  once  or  twice  when  the  latter  visited 
his  fiancee  (Miss  Kate  Trubee  of  Bridgeport)  while  she  was  spending 
a  vacation  with  her  friend,  Mr.  Clarke's  daughter. 

Forthwith  Mr.  Davison  was  installed  as  assistant  cashier  of  the 
Liberty.  Within  a  year  he  was  made  cashier,  three  years  later  he  was 
elected  vice-president,  and  in  another  year  president.  His  rise  was 
so  rapid  that  it  attracted  general  attention.  New  York  financial 
annals  had  contained  few  if  any  instances  of  a  man  of  3  2  being  chosen 
as  president  of  an  important  national  bank  solely  on  merit  and  with- 
out influence  of  any  kind  whatsoever. 

Ruts  were  and  are  avoided  by  Davison,  for  ruts  are  graves  in  the 
making.  He  was  not  long  with  the  Liberty  when  he  did  something 
original.  It  is  told  that  when  he  joined  the  bank  he  procured  a  full 
list  of  the  stockholders,  mostly  business  men,  visited  each  and  de- 
livered this  sort  of  exhortation: 

"You  own  .  .  .  shares  of  the  Liberty  National  Bank.  Of 
course  you  would  like  to  see  them  become  more  valuable.  Well, 
now,  won't  you  try  to  induce  some  of  your  friends  to  do  business  with 
us?  We  will  treat  them  right — and  the  increased  business  will  mean 
increased  dividends." 

Laggard  stockholders  were  re-visited  until  nearly  all  were  inoculated 
with  the  Davison  spirit  of  enthusiasm.  It  became  something  of  a 
sporting  contest,  this  competition  among  stockholders  to  bring  in  the 
largest  possible  amount  of  new  business. 

Such  intelligent  initiative  impressed  the  bank's  owners — and  helped 
the  institution  to  grow  at  a  rate  which  excited  comment.  It  soon 
outgrew  its  quarters  in  the  Central  of  New  Jersey  building  in  West 
Street  and  more  pretentious,  as  well  as  more  central,  offices  were 
opened  at  139  Broadway.  The  old  lease  had  two  years  to  run  and 
Mr.  Davison  preferred  to  keep  the  place  closed  lest  a  new  concern 
might  open  there  and  fall  heir  to  much  of  the  Liberty's  custom. 
Empty  offices,  however,  being  detrimental  to  a  building,  the  owners 
brought  pressure  to  bear  upon  Mr.  Davison  to  agree  to  the  subletting 
of  the  space. 

Mr.  Davison  felt  strongly,  however,  about  the  danger  of  a  new  bank 
taking  the  customers  before  they  had  learned  to  find  the  way  to  139 
Broadway.     What  could  be  done  about  it? 

One  of  the  most  brilliant  ideas  of  his  life  flashed  into  his  mind,  an 
idea  that  was  destined  to  raise  Davison's  prestige  and  influence  ex- 
traordinarily, as  well  as  to  help  out  his  bank  account,  which  then  was 
a  long  way  from  six  figures. 

"I'll  organize  a  trust  company.     Our  capital  will  be  safe  and  we 


,  HENRY.  P.  DAVISON .  49 

ought  to  earn  at  least  6  per  cent.  It  will  make  a  good  tenant  for 
the  Liberty's  old  building  and  it  will  afford  some  of  us  pleasant  asso- 
ciations," was  the  plan  he  mapped  out. 

The  bankers  and  others  to  whom  he  outlined  the  plan  became  so 
enthusiastic  that  the  capital  of  $1,000,000  was  quoted  at  $200  per 
share  before  the  doors  were  opened.  It  is  known,  however,  that  the 
originator  of  the  enterprise  refused  all  suggestions  that  he  take  a 
larger  share  than  the  other  directors.  Each  was  awarded  exactly  the 
same  amount  of  stock,  a  procedure  that  enhanced  Mr.  Davison's 
reputation  for  scrupulous  fairness.  The  name  given  Mr.  Davison's 
financial  child  was  the  Bankers'  Trust  Company.  To-day  it  owns  and 
occupies  the  most  notable  financial  skyscraper  in  Wall  Street,  has 
total  deposits  of  approximately  $300,000,000,  making  it  the  second 
largest  trust  company  in  America.  Mr.  Davison,  naturally,  was  made 
chairman  of  the  executive  committee,  which  position  he  has  held 
ever  since.  A  tablet  erected  in  the  magnificent  building  contains 
this  tribute  to  the  founder: 

THE   DIRECTORS    OF  THE    BANKERS* 

TRUST   COMPANY   HERE    RECORD   THEIR 

APPRECIATION    OF  THE    SERVICES    OF 

HENRY    POMEROY   DAVISON 

IN  THE   ORGANIZATION   AND    UPBUILDING 

OF  THE    COMPANY  AND   THE    ERECTION 

OF   ITS    PERMANENT   HOME 

Contrary  to  the  impression  sought  to  be  conveyed  by  the  Pujo 
Committee  investigators,  the  Bankers'  Trust  was  not  built  up  by  an 
oligarchy  of  New  York's  leading  financiers.  It  was  a  young  men's 
enterprise.  Such  enthusiasts  as  Albert  H.  Wiggin,  Gates  W.  Mc- 
Garrah,  Benjamin  Strong,  Jr.,  and  Davison,  not  veterans  who  had 
"arrived,"  were  chosen  for  the  executive  committee  and  worked 
nights  patiently,  zealously,  skilfully,  unsparingly,  to  win  the  success 
which  was  rapidly  achieved.     The  experience  broadened  all  of  them. 

George  F.  Baker,  the  veteran  head  of  the  First  National  Bank  and  a 
financier  ranking  in  power  second  only  to  his  closest  friend,  the  late 
J.  P.  Morgan,  did  not  fail  to  note  the  calibre  of  this  resourceful  young 
banker,  and  in  1902  he  induced  Mr.  Davison — then  only  35  years  of 
age — to  become  his  right-hand  man  as  vice-president  of  the  First 
National. 

It  was  Mr.  Davison's  work  during  the  1907  panic  that  first  brought 
him  prominently  to  the  attention  of  Commander-in-chief  Morgan. 
At  Mr.  Morgan's  request  he  was  on  hand  at  all  the  important  con- 
ferences held  uptown  and  downtown  during  the  dark  days  of  October 
and  November.     In  the  following  spring  Senator  Aldrich  appointed 


50  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

him  an  adviser  to  the  National  Monetary  Commission  to  investigate 
the  financial  systems  of  Europe. 

"Homestaying  youths  have  ever  homely  wits,'*  said  Shakespeare. 
Davison  is  not  open  to  this  charge.  He  has  enjoyed  unique  inter- 
national experiences.  First,  as  an  adviser  to  the  National  Monetary 
Commission,  he  visited  Europe  and  there  met  the  Finance  Ministers 
and  other  leading  banking  powers  in  England,  France,  Germany,  and 
other  European  countries,  discussing  with  them  the  very  foundations 
of  finance,  banking,  and  currency,  a  privilege  of  rare  value  to  a  banker 
under  40  years  of  age  and  quick  to  seize  every  opportunity  to  enhance 
his  knowledge  and  his  usefulness.  Next,  when  the  Six-Power 
Chinese  Loan  was  bruited,  Washington,  then  presided  over  by  Taft 
and  Knox,  asked  a  group  of  American  bankers  to  join  it  in  order  to 
strengthen  America's  position  in  the  Orient,  and  more  particularly  to 
enable  this  country  to  have  a  potent  voice  in  insisting  upon  the  main- 
tenance of  Secretary  Hay's  famous  "Open-Door"  policy  for  China. 
It  was  Henry  P.  Davison,  by  this  time  a  member  of  the  Morgan  firm, 
who  was  selected  to  proceed  to  Europe  and  conduct  the  negotiations 
on  behalf  of  the  American  group,  consisting  of  Morgan  &  Co.,  Kuhn, 
Loeb  &  Co.,  the  National  City  Bank  and  the  First  National  Bank. 
Not  only  that;  it  was  Davison  who  was  chosen  by  the  British, 
French,  German,  Russian,  and  Japanese  delegations  to  become  chair- 
man of  the  whole  group. 

The  protracted  negotiations  entailed  several  visits  to  Europe  and 
long  stays  there,  affording  the  young  American  an  insight  into  Euro- 
pean finance  that  equipped  him,  as  nothing  else  could,  as  a  real  inter- 
national banker. 

That  the  negotiations  came  to  naught  was  largely  due  to  the  atti- 
tude assumed  by  the  Wilson  administration,  which  frowned  on 
"Dollar  Diplomacy."  Since  then  the  Administration  has  changed 
its  attitude  and  is  now  anxious  that  our  bankers  should  extend  aid  to 
China. 

The  wisdom  of  Mr.  Morgan's  choice  of  Mr.  Davison  as  a  partner 
needs  no  descriptive  words;  financial  history  bears  record  that  the 
greatest  banker  America  has  ever  known  found  in  Henry  P.  Davison 
the  greatest  partner  he  ever  had. 

Not  the  least  valuable  of  Mr.  Davison's  achievements  has  been  his 
untrumpeted  endeavours  to  bring  about  a  spirit  of  greater  friendliness 
and  cooperation  throughout  the  banking  community.  His  own 
openness  and  frankness  have  encouraged  others  to  adopt  a  like  attitude 
in  their  daily  dealings  with  one  another  and  with  the  public.  His 
organization  of  the  Bankers'  Trust  Company  contributed  toward 
this  end  by  bringing  many  bankers  together  in  a  friendly  way.  The 
improvement  which  has  been  brought  about  in  the  exchange  of  credit 


HENRY  P.  DAVISON  51 

information  is  one   fruit   of  this   new   and    better   live-and-let-live 
policy. 

Davison,  blessed  with  fine  physique  and  an  engaging  countenance, 
is  both  likeable  and  liked,  by  employees  as  well  as  by  other  bankers. 
He  does  not  know  how  to  dissemble — not  even  when  bombarded  by 
awkward,  not-to-be  answered  queries  by  prying  reporters.  He  goes 
at  everything  directly.  He  has  confidence  not  only  in  himself  but  in 
men  that  he  picks — he  has  often  helped  institutions  to  find  important 
oflRcers  and  has  not  hesitated  to  accept  entire  responsibility  for  his 
judgment  in  making  selections.  He  is  a  man  of  courage,  unafraid 
to  face  difficult  situations,  since  originality,  resourcefulness,  and  diplo- 
macy can  overcome  most  obstacles. 

"In  climbing  the  ladder  of  success  what  have  you  learned  that  you 
could  pass  on  to  aid  other  struggling  young  men?"  I  asked  Mr. 
Davison.  "Did  you  conceive  any  shining  goal  and  bend  everything 
to  reaching  it?'* 

"No,"  he  replied  emphatically.  "Whatever  job  I  had  was  to  me 
always  the  very  best  job  in  the  world,  and  I  tried  to  fill  it.  I  made  no 
elaborate  plans  for  the  future.  If  I  had  any  system  in  my  labour  it 
was  first  to  do  my  own  work;  second,  to  teach  the  fellow  below  me 
howtotake  my  place;third,tolearn  howtofill  the  position  ahead  of  me. 

"Boys  and  young  men  should  not  imagine  that  their  work  is  so 
unimportant  that  nobody  takes  note  of  how  they  do  it.  It  does  not 
take  long  to  find  out  whether  a  boy  is  on  his  toes  watching  how  he  can 
best  be  of  help  in  a  situation  or  whether  he  merely  sits  down  and 
waits  to  be  told  what  to  do.  The  simple  virtues  of  willingness,  readi- 
ness, alertness,  and  courtesy  will  carry  a  boy  farther  than  mere  smart- 
ness. 

"Perhaps  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  for  me  to  describe  an  incident 
which  may  carry  a  lesson  for  the  young  men  you  are  anxious  to  help. 
One  day  when  I  was  teller,  a  customer  offered  me  a  very  fine  gold  pen. 
I  went  right  into  the  office  and  asked  if  this  man  had  any  loan  from 
the  bank.  I  explained  that  he  had  asked  me  to  accept  the  gift. 
The  bank  promptly  acted  and  it  was  not  long  before  the  fellow  was  in 
bankruptcy.  The  simple  course  I  took  saved  the  bank  a  good  deal  of 
money. 

"Following  a  plain,  straightforward  course  avoids  complications 
of  all  sorts.  Life  is  really  simple.  If  it  becomes  complicated  It  is 
because  we  ourselves  make  it  complicated." 

The  American  Government,  through  President  Wilson,  recently 
signified  its  regard  for  Mr.  Davison's  transcendent  ability  by  appoint- 
ing him  Chairman  of  the  Red  Cross  War  Council,  one  of  the  most 
important  and  onerous  positions  in  the  whole  country,  for  on  the 
Red  Cross  devolves  the  vast,  complicated  task  of  relieving  "the  suffer- 


52  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

ing  and  distress  which  must  inevitably  arise,  out  of  this  fight  for 
humanity  and  democracy,"  to  quote  President  Wilson's  words.  The 
hand  of  a  master  at  the  helm  at  once  became  manifest.  The  Society 
immediately  undertook  the  reorganization  and  concentration  of  all 
Red  Cross  and  similar  efforts  throughout  the  country,  coordinated 
the  activities  of  multitudinous  smaller  bodies,  stirred  up  public  inter- 
est and  launched  a  brilliant  campaign  for  the  raising  of  $100,000,000, 
an  unpredecented  undertaking.  Yet  so  ably  was  the  movement  con- 
ducted that  the  goal  of  $100,000,000  was  passed  handsomely. 

F.  Trubee  Davison,  one  of  Mr.  Davison's  sons,  with  a  foresight 
worthy  of  his  father,  organized  a  flying  corps  of  young  college  men  to 
train  as  the  First  New  York  unit  of  the  Aerial  Coast  Patrol  and  be- 
came an  expert  hydro-aeroplanist  before  he  met  with  a  lamentable 
accident,  in  July,  1917,  while  in  active  performance  of  his  duties 
in  the  air.  Harry  P.  Davison,  Jr.,  began  serving  with  the  American 
Ambulance  Corps  in  France  before  war  was  declared  by  the  United 
States  but  he  later  returned  and  joined  the  more  dangerous  aviation 
service.  Both  became  active  members  of  the  Naval  Reserve  Fly- 
ing Corps.  Mrs.  Davison  has  set  an  example  to  other  American 
mothers  by  the  brave  and  patriotic  attitude  she  has  taken  through- 
out the  campaign.  The  expense  of  training  the  collegiate  fliers 
was  borne  by  her,  and  she  has  also  maintained  an  active  aviation 
camp  at  her  summer  home. 

Although  Mr.  Davison  was  never  a  star  at  any  games  or  sports,  he 
contrives  to  get  a  good  deal  of  exercise  and  pleasure.  He  plays  a 
swift  game  of  tennis,  rides  horseback,  and  is  at  home  aboard  his 
yacht,  which  in  the  summer  takes  him  to  business  in  the  morning 
and  back  in  the  afternoon  to  his  beautiful  home  on  Long  Island, 
where  under  normal  conditions  he  spends  much  time.  Since  America 
entered  the  war,  Mr.  Davison  has  taken  up  residence  in  Washington, 
where  he  spends  all  his  time. 

For  years  Mr.  Davison  was  president  of  the  hospital  at  Englewood, 
N.  J.,  where  he  used  to  live,  and  he  has  always  done  a  lot  of  active 
Red  Cross  work.  He  has  also  done  much,  his  friends  declare,  in 
helping  young  men  to  help  themselves.  He  is  entitled  to  write 
"Dr."  in  front  of  his  name,  having  received  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  He  is  also  a  Knight  of  the  Order 
of  the  Crown  of  Italy. 

Recently  he  was  given  the  military  rank  of  Major-General  in 
connection  with  his  Red  Cross  governmental  office. 

Success  has  not  spoiled  General  Davison.  He  is  as  democratic 
in  spirit  as  in  the  days  when  he  rode  his  wheel  through  ten  miles  of 
crowded  streets  to  save  ten  cents  car  fare  daily. 


ROBERT  DOLLAR 


CAPTAIN  ROBERT  DOLLAR 

THE  cook-boy  in  a  remote  Canadian  lumber  camp  was  caught 
ofF  guard. 
"What  are  you  up  to?"  demanded  the  boss. 

The  boy,  startled,  crumpled  up  a  sheet  of  rough  paper  he  had 
spread  on  top  of  a  flour  barrel. 

"I've  finished  my  work,"  he  apologized. 

"Whait  were  you  doing.''"  asked  the  boss. 

"When  I  have  any  spare  time  I  Hke  to  learn,"  he  explained  timidly. 

"Learn  what."*" 

"To  figure  and  write." 

The  camp  manager  picked  up  the  rumpled  paper.  It  was  covered 
with  figures  and  writing. 

He  said  no  more. 

When  Li  Yuen-hung  was  chosen  President  of  China  one  of  the 
first  things  he  did  was  to  send  this  ex-cook-boy  a  cable  expressing  a 
desire  for  his  friendship.  Yuan  Shi-kai,  his  predecessor,  had  decor- 
ated the  former  lumber  camp  lad.     So  had  the  last  Emperor  of  China. 

To-day  the  cook-boy  is  one  of  the  most  influential  counsellors  of  the 
Chinese  Government  and  almost  an  idol  in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese 
people. 

His  name  is  Robert  Dollar,  the  foremost  producer  and  exporter  of 
lumber  in  the  United  States;  the  owner  of  two  fleets  of  steamers — one 
for  coastal,  the  other  for  overseas  trade;the  greatest  individual  creator 
of  commerce  between  the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  Orient;  a  still  greater 
creator  and  cementer  of  friendship  between  the  Orient  and  the  Occi- 
dent, and  this  country's  most  potent  worker  for  the  establishment  of  a 
powerful  American  merchant  marine.     Also,  a  philanthropist. 

It  was  Captain  Dollar  who  led  the  unsuccessful  fight  against  the 
enactment  of  the  suicidal  La  Follette  Seamen's  bill  which  immediately 
swept  the  Stars  and  Stripes  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  gave  the  Jap- 
anese complete  control  of  the  commerce  between  the  Orient  and  the 
United  States  before  the  American  people  had  their  eyes  opened  to 
the  gravity  of  the  situation. 

"La  Follette's  name  will  go  down  to  posterity  as  the  man  who 
drove  the  last  nail  into  the  merchant-marine  coffin,"  the  veteran 
captain  declared  when,  despite  all  the  protests  of  commercial  and 
shipping  authorities,  the  fatal  measure  was  passed  by  Congress. 

S3 


54  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

The  law  was  found  to  be  so  impossible  that  Washington  was  obliged 
to  announce  that  certain  features  of  it  would  not — because  they 
could  not — be  enforced. 

Even  so,  the  conditions  brought  about  were  so  demoralizing,  so 
subversive  of  all  discipline,  so  productive  of  insubordination,  that 
shipping  casualties  became  so  numerous  on  the  Pacific  Coast  that  in- 
surance companies  refused  to  accept  risks. 

An  impressive  tribute  to  the  genius  of  American  statesmanship! 

Not  content  to  legislate  for  American  ships,  then  representing 
about  one  per  cent,  of  the  world's  shipping  tonnage,  the  Washington 
wiseacres  actually  attempted  to  make  laws  for  the  remaining  99  per 
cent.!  Of  course  they  had  to  crawl  back  into  their  shells.  If  they 
hadn't,  America  would  have  been  left  without  ships  to  move  her 
$7,000,000,000  of  annual  exports  and  imports.  President  Wilson  sent 
for  Captain  Dollar,  but,  unfortunately.  Congress  did  not  promptly 
follow  the  sound  advice  given.  America  had  not  then  had  her  eyes 
opened  by  participation  in  the  world  war. 

"All  we  shipowners  want,"  Captain  Dollar  repeatedly  told  the 
Government,  "is  to  be  put  on  an  equal  footing  with  other  nations. 
Give  us  equal  laws  and  we  will  give  you  a  merchant  marine  rivalling 
that  of  a  century  ago,  when  the  Stars  and  Stripes  carried  nine-tenths 
of  the  United  States  overseas  commerce.  To-day  our  naval  vessels 
cannot  go  far  from  land  without  the  support  of  foreign  auxiliaries." 

So  ridiculous  did  our  marine  regulations  become  that  American 
shipowners  were  compelled  to  fly  the  British  flag  and  employ  British 
Naval  Reserve  men  on  their  vessels,  thus  helping  to  strengthen  Bri- 
tain's power  at  the  expense  of  crippling  our  own. 

"You  may  succeed  in  driving  us  out  of  the  United  States,  but  you 
can't  drive  us  out  of  the  business,"  Captain  Dollar  told  Andrew 
Furuseth,  the  seamen's  professional  agitator,  who  really  was  the  in- 
spirer  of  the  measure. 

Patriotic  American  though  Captain  Dollar  is,  he  was  compelled  by 
our  absurd  laws  to  run  his  overseas  fleet  under  an  alien  flag  and  from  an 
alien  port.  Whereas  his  ships  used  to  sail  from  California,  their 
headquarters  is  now  Vancouver,  British  Columbia,  which  levies  toll, 
of  course,  on  every  ton  entering  her  harbours  and  gets  the  railroad 
haul  of  merchandise  which  ought  to  pass  over  none  but  American  lines 
and  be  handled  by  none  but  American  workmen. 

By  what  steps  and  by  what  qualities  did  Robert  Dollar  climb  from 
the  cook's  shanty  to  the  ownership  of  steamship  lines  and  a  vast  tim- 
ber business,  honoured  by  election  to  the  presidency  of  both  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the  Merchants'  Exchange  of  San  Fran- 
cisco, by  selection  as  a  director  of  the  Foreign  Trade  Council,  by 
appointment  as  a  director  of  the  $50,000,000  American  International 


CAPTAIN  ROBERT  DOLLAR  55 

Corporation,  by  decorations  from  Pekin  and  by  receiving  the  Freedom 
of  the  Borough  and  the  keys  of  his  Scottish  birthplace? 

Not  one  of  America's  "Fifty  Greatest  Business  Men"  began  more 
humbly.  He  was  born  in  a  little  home  above  a  lumber  firm's  office  at 
Falkirk,  Scotland,  73  years  ago.  When  only  12  he  was  taken  from 
school  to  earn  a  few  shillings  as  office-boy  with  a  shipping  company. 
The  family  emigrated  to  Ottawa  a  year  later  and  little  Robert, 
when  under  fourteen,  was  dispatched  200  miles  from  civilization  to  a 
lumber  camp.  Even  to-day  lumber  camps  are  not  Sunday-school 
centres;  60  years  ago  they  were — well,  less  so. 

The  most  menial  job  of  all  was  that  of  "cook's  boy."  When  the 
food  did  not  come  up  to  the  expectations  of  the  hungry  lumber  jacks, 
the  person  who  set  it  in  front  of  them  was  lucky  if  he  encountered 
nothing  more  damaging  than  a  volley  of  oaths.  Bob  Dollar,  however, 
manifestly  was  doing  his  best  and  most  of  the  rough  diamonds  came 
to  have  rather  a  warm  spot  for  him  in  their  hearts — especially  as  he 
could  be  called  in  to  read  or  write  a  love  letter  for  those  who  could  use 
axes  very  effectively  but  pens  not  at  all. 

WTien  the  camp  manager,  Hiram  Robinson,  caught  the  cook's  boy 
struggling  with  addition  and  subtraction,  multiplication  and  divi- 
sion, and  caligraphy,  he  did  not  dismiss  him  for  using  the  company's 
time  for  such  a  purpose,  but  quietly  began  providing  the  ambitious 
little  fellow  with  books,  and  also  saw  to  it  that  leisure  was  provided 
for  study. 

The  lad  did  not  confine  his  studies  to  books  or  to  cookery.  He 
learned  how  to  fell  trees,  how  to  tell  good  lumber  from  bad,  and,  not 
least  important,  how  to  get  along  with  the  uncouth  workmen.  Before 
he  had  had  his  first  shave  he  was  playing  the  part,  not  of  a  boy,  but  of 
a  man,  able  to  hold  his  own  when  trouble  broke  out. 

"Take  a  drive  down  the  river  Du  Moine.  Take  fifty  men  with 
you,"  was  the  order  he  received  one  day  from  the  camp  manager. 
This  was  the  first  drive  of  saw  logs  undertaken  from  the  Du  Moine 
district  over  the  Chaudiere  Falls,  a  route  subsequently  taken  by  many 
millions  of  Ottawa-bound  logs.  Dollar,  though  only  twenty-one, 
managed  the  men  and  the  venture  successfully.  As  a  reward  he  was 
made  foreman  over  a  big  gang. 

Two  things  all  Scottish  children  are  taught — the  Bible  and  thrift. 
Lumber-jack  Dollar  had  saved  most  of  his  hard-won  wages,  though 
the  pay  was  only  ^10  a  month  at  the  start.  Another  trait  is  inde- 
pendence— the  northern  Scots  claim  that  they  are  the  only  people  the 
Romans  failed  to  lick  after  trying.  He  had  enough  money  when 
twenty-seven  to  buy  a  modest  bit  of  timber  land  and,  with  high  hopes 
and  unbounded  optimism,  started  operations. 

Alas!    "Wall  Street"  upset  all  his  plans  and  plunged  him  into  bank- 


56  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

ruptcy — not  because  he  had  speculated  on  a  "sure-thing"  tip;  it  was 
the  panic  of  Black  Friday  which  ruined  him  as  it  ruined  many  stronger 
business  men. 

He  had  learned,  however,  how  to  take  knocks.  Without  difficulty 
he  found  a  good  job  as  manager  of  an  important  lumber  establishment. 
He  saved  every  penny  that  came  within  his  reach  and  paid  off  all  his 
debts  in  full  within  four  years — he  was  and  is  an  ardent  believer  in  the 
Golden  Rule  and  its  Founder,  His  employer  took  him  into  partner- 
ship and  this  time  things  moved  more  satisfactorily.  Their  product 
consisted  chiefly  of  hewn-board  timber  for  export  to  England. 

"Captain  Dollar  is  from  Missouri — from  the  heart  of  Missouri," 
one  of  his  managers  said  to  me.  "He  must  always  be  shown;  he 
wants  to  see  things  for  himself — even  if  he  has  to  travel  one  thousand 
or  ten  thousand  miles  to  see  them.  He  is  one  of  the  best-travelled 
men  in  the  world.  He  always  gets  at  the  bottom  of  everything.  He 
is  intensely  practical  and  has  scant  regard  for  untested  theories.  He 
keeps  his  eyes  open  all  the  time  for  new  opportunities.  He  is  the 
most  resourceful  man  in  America." 

Perhaps  this  explains  why  he  moved  first  to  Michigan,  where  larger 
and  better  timber  could  be  had,  and  later  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  He 
began  lumbering  redwood  in  northern  California  but  grudged  the 
amount  he  was  charged  for  transporting  his  output.  He  investigated. 
Discovering  that  if  he  could  get  a  ship  of  his  own  he  could  cut  the  cost 
to  half,  he  bought  a  little  tub,  the  Newsboy^  of  some  300  tons.  It 
paid  for  itself  in  less  than  a  year. 

This  appealed  to  the  Scotch  in  him!  If  one  twopenny  boat  could 
earn  so  much,  why  not  get  hold  of  more  boats.?  He  did.  And  that 
was  the  birth  of  the  now  famous  Robert  Dollar  Steamship  Company 
with  one  fleet  of  vessels  in  the  coastwise  trade  running  all  the  way 
from  Alaska  to  the  Panama  Canal,  and  another  fleet  plying  between 
the  Pacific  Coast  and  the  Orient,  with  branches  in  Shanghai, 
Hong  Kong,  Tientsin,  Hankow,  Kobe,  Petrograd,  Manila,  Vancouver, 
Seattle,  and  New  York. 

The  business  did  not  grow  of  its  own  accord;  it  had  to  be  built  up 
from  the  foundation.  It  called  for  foresight,  enterprise^  energy, 
diplomacy,  patiende,  perseverance,  and  the  most  scrupulous  fair- 
dealing,  for  no  race  is  more  quick  to  resent  questionable  practices 
than  the  Chinese. 

When  Captain  Dollar  first  began  to  ship  lumber  to  the  Orient  the 
demand  was  solely  for  the  very  largest  pieces.  This  left  a  by-product 
of  small  boards  which  could  not  be  shipped.  He  knew  that  the 
Chinese  did  not  use  these  enormous  sizes  but  that  nearly  all  of  them 
were  cut  into  small  pieces  by  hand-saws.  The  resourceful  Dollar 
began  persuading  his  Chinese  customers  to  take  a  sprinkling  of  these 


CAPTAIN  ROBERT  DOLLAR  57 

small  sizes.  He  took  a  trip  to  the  Celestial  Empire  and  created  a 
market  for  his  by-product. 

Return  cargoes  were  then  not  to  be  had.  As  there  was  no  profit 
in  running  empty  steamers,  trade  must  be  developed.  Off  he  went 
to  find  out  what  could  be  done  about  it.  When  he  got  to  the  Philip- 
pines he  made  arrangements  to  import  mahogany  and  copra.  Japan, 
he  discovered,  could  supply  oak,  sulphur,  coke,  and  coal.  China 
yielded  a  grade  of  pig  iron  which  Western  mills  would  snap  up  as  fast 
as  it  could  be  brought  over. 

The  Dollar  steamships  were  thus  kept  loaded  both  going  and  com- 
ing. Since  the  outbreak  of  war  freight  rates  have  been  so  high  that 
lumber  could  not  stand  it.  Outward  shipments,  consequently,  have 
consisted  very  largely  of  general  merchandise  and  munitions,  the  latter 
chiefly  to  Vladivostok.  From  that  port  the  vessels  proceed  to 
China,  Japan,  and  the  Philippines  for  return  cargoes. 

While  the  Dollar  Steamship  Company  trades  with  India,  Japan,  and 
the  Philippines,  its  largest  business  is  with  China,  where  Captain 
Dollar  has  come  to  be  revered  to  a  degree  not  easily  understood  by 
the  untravelled  American. 

"Never  try  to  cheat  a  Chinaman,"  Captain  Dollar  impresses  upon 
every  one  who  would  do  business  with  the  Chinese.  Confucius  taught 
them  that  "honesty  is  the  best  policy,"  and  the  Chinese  live  strictly 
up  to  this  axiom.  In  addressing  a  meeting  of  the  United  States 
Chamber  of  Commerce  he  said:  "In  all  our  years  of  trading  with  the 
Chinese,  involving  many  millions  of  dollars,  we  have  never  lost  a 
single  cent,  never  had  one  bad  debt.  I  wish  we  could  say  the  same 
of  other  countries,  including  our  own." 

Time  and  again  Captain  Dollar,  on  going  aboard  one  of  his  ships 
on  the  Pacific  to  inspect  the  outgoing  cargo,  has  ordered  thousands 
upon  thousands  of  boards  dumped  back  on  the  pier  because  they  were 
not  in  every  particular  exactly  what  the  Chinese  buyers  had  ordered. 
Sometimes  the  mills  had  sent  better  grades,  but  the  Chinaman 
wanted  just  what  he  bargained  for  and  would  feel  aggrieved  were 
the  contract  not  lived  up  to  scrupulously. 

"The  Captain  never  bluffs  and  cannot  be  bluffed,"  one  of  his  asso- 
ciates told  me.  "I  remember  once  a  customer  sent  in  a  large  claim 
on  the  ground  that  the  lumber  delivered  was  of  inferior  quality. 
When  we  went  to  the  yard  the  owner  had  two  or  three  hundred 
boards  lined  up  and  told  us  they  were  a  fair  sample  of  the  whole  con- 
signment and  he  wanted  an  adjustment  on  that  basis.  The  rest  of  the 
boards  had  been  stacked  up  in  piles  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  high. 
'It  is  all  like  this,*  the  customer  declared,  pointing  to  the  inferior 
boards.  'Let's  have  a  look  at  it,'  said  the  Captain.  'Oh,'  said  the 
buyer,  'you  can't  climb  up  these  piles.'    There  was  no  other  way  to 


58  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

get  at  the  stuff,  so  the  Captain,  although  nearly  seventy,  shinnied 
to  the  top  almost  as  fast  as  a  monkey.  There  was  not  a  bad  board  in 
sight!     He  was  from  Missouri,  as  I  told  you  before." 

Great  as  have  been  the  services  of  Captain  Dollar  in  extending 
American  commerce  in  the  Orient  and  in  creating  a  fleet  of  high-class 
steamers,  both  passenger  and  freight,  as  well  as  in  striving  heroically 
to  have  Congress  adopt  sensible  shipping  legislation,  he  has  a  much 
stronger  title  to  the  gratitude  of  the  American  people. 

Robert  Dollar  has  done  more  to  prevent  strife  and  promote  peace 
between  America  and  the  Orient  than  any  living  statesman. 

When  war  was  threatened  between  this  country  and  Japan  over 
the  San  Francisco  school  question,  Captain  Dollar  succeeded  in  get- 
ting up  a  party  of  commercial  men  from  different  chambers  of  com- 
merce to  visit  Japan,  where  he  is  almost  as  well  known  and  as  highly 
regarded  as  in  China.  The  Emperor  himself  received  the  delegation. 
The  entente  cordiale  was  reestablished.  After  that  the  jingoes 
could  make  no  headway  with  their  militant  propaganda. 

Two  years  later  Captain  Dollar  organized  an  influential  commission 
to  visit  China.  Their  reception  by  the  Emperor,  by  Governmental 
dignitaries,  by  cities  and  by  commercial  organizations  eclipsed  in 
ceremony  and  display  anything  before  or  since  extended  to  foreign 
visitors.  Captain  Dollar's  diary  of  this  memorable  trip  (he  has 
kept  diaries  without  a  break  for  sixty  years)  was  later  published  for 
private  circulation  at  the  insistent  request  of  friends;  it  gives  a  better 
insight  into  the  nation  which  comprises  one-third  of  the  human  race 
than  any  other  publication  I  have  ever  read.  It  is  sprinkled  with  wit 
and  humour.  The  distinguished  Chinese  delegation,  headed  by 
Cheng  Hsun-chang,  which  visited  the  United  States  and  created 
nation-wide  interest  in  191 5,  was  China's  fitting  way  of  return- 
ing the  Dollar  delegation's  visit.  This  exchange  of  courtesies 
not  only  bore  practical  commercial  fruits  in  the  form  of  de- 
veloping new  business  between  the  two  countries,  but  proved 
infinitely  more  valuable  in  bringing  the  two  nations  into  closer  un- 
derstanding. 

Captain  Dollar,  as  his  photograph  shows,  is  a  patriarchal  figure 
with  his  silver-white  hair  and  gray  beard.  He  works  prodigiously, 
especially  before  most  of  America's  100,000,000  people  are  out  of  bed. 
He  spends  a  goodly  part  of  his  time  and  his  means  in  philanthropic 
and  church  work,  being  especially  interested  in  furthering  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  movement  throughout  the  world.  His 
native  town  in  Scotland  has  not  been  forgotten;  his  gifts  to  it  include 
elaborate  swimming  baths. 

I  asked  Captain  Dollar  what  his  vast  experience  had  taught  him 
were  some  of  the  quahties  helpful  to  the  attainment  of  success.     I  also 


CAPTAIN  ROBERT  DOLLAR  59 

asked  him  what  ought  to  be  done  to  enable  the  United  States  to  attain 
a  higher  place  among  the  commercial  nations  of  the  world. 

The  Grand  Old  Man  of  the  Pacific  thus  replied  to  the  first  question: 

"i. — Fear  God  and  be  just  and  honest  to  your  fellow  man. 

"2. — Incessant  hard  work. 

"3. — Frugality  and  saving  your  money. 

"4. — Drink  no  intoxicating  liquors;  in  these  days  of  keen  competi- 
tion whisky  and  business  won't  mix — you  cant  do  both. 

"Foreign  Trade  is  the  answer  to  the  second  question.  We  are 
legislated  to  death.  Stop  legislating  and  leave  our  merchants  alone 
and  they  will  develop  our  foreign  trade,  and  provide  tonnage  to  carry 
our  own  products  to  market.  Permit  our  shipowners  to  operate  our 
ships  exactly  on  the  same  terms  and  conditions  as  other  nations  are 
doing,  and  then  our  merchants  will  supply  the  cargoes  and  our  ship- 
owners will  provide  plenty  of  tonnage  for  our  commerce  in  time  of 
peace  and  auxiliaries  to  our  navy  in  time  of  war,  and,  except  for  carry- 
ing our  mails,  it  won't  cost  our  country  a  cent." 

A  few  months  ago  a  septuagenarian  visited  octogenarian  Hiram 
Robinson,  at  Ottawa. 

"You  don't  remember  raeV  asked  the  visitor. 

The  old  man  peered  at  him  a  moment. 

"Don't  I?"  he  cried,  holding  out  his  hand.  "You  are  Bob  Dollar, 
my  old  cook-boy." 

The  millionaire  ex-cook-boy  left  Hiram  happy,  for  the  aged  lum- 
berman was  the  boss  who  caught  him  learning  to  read  and  write  and 
who  made  the  ascent  of  the  ladder  of  success  a  little  easier. 


WILLIAM  L.  DOUGLAS 

FORTUNE  rarely  can  be  overtaken  by  following  the  beaten 
track.  Most  of  the  notable  successes  in  business  and  finance 
have  been  won  by  those  who  either  opened  entirely  new  paths 
or  greatly  broadened  and  developed  old  ones. 

John  D.  Rockefeller  was  the  first  to  grasp  and  carry  out  on  a  large 
scale  the  idea  of  combining  many  small  concerns  into  one  powerful 
corporation.  E.  H.  Gary  did  the  same  thing  in  steel  in  the  early  days. 
Henry  Ford,  John  N.  Willys,  William  C.  Durant,  and  other  forward- 
looking  stalwarts  jumped  into  the  automobile  arena  and  developed  it 
from  an  infant  industry  to  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  country. 
Thomas  A.  Edison,  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  and  Theodore N.  Vail  were 
all  pioneers.  Frank  W.Woolworth  made  a  fortune  byseizingand  hold- 
ing on  to  a  new  method  of  merchandising.     So  did  Julius  Roscnwald. 

Henry  C.  Frick  took  hold  of  the  coke  business  when  it  was  in  its 
swaddling  clothes  and  made  of  it  a  giant.  George  Eastman  found 
photography  the  complicated  plaything  of  a  few  and  so  simplified  and 
cheapened  it  that  he  brought  it  within  the  reach  of  all.  John  H. 
Patterson  did  something  similar  with  the  cash  register.  William  II. 
Nichols  made  up  his  mind  to  become  a  manufacturer  of  chemicals 
because  he  saw  that  the  field  could  be  tilled  with  greater  scientific 
knowledge  and  to  more  profitable  account  than  ever  before.  E.  C. 
Simmons,  of  hardware  fame,  and  James  B.  Duke,  the  tobacco  king, 
took  hold  of  existing  industries  but  developed  them  along  new  and 
very  much  broader  lines.  Minor  C.  Keith  penetrated  Central 
America  and  achieved  fame  and  fortune  by  his  labours  to  transform  it 
from  a  fever-stricken  waste  to  a  tropical  fruit  garden.  Frank  A. 
Vanderlip  organized  and  developed  a  new  phase  of  national  banking 
and  more  recently  conceived  an  improved  method  of  conducting 
international  financial  and  commercial  operations. 

W.  L.  Douglas,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  has  demonstrated  that 
the  track  one  follow^s  is  of  less  importance  than  the  diligence  and 
enterprise  with  which  it  is  followed.  Before  his  day  no  American  had 
ever  become  a  millionaire  making  shoes.  Shoemakers  were  usually 
poor  men,  doing  business  on  a  puny  scale. 

Douglas,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one,  after  having  been  bruised  and 
buffeted  on  the  stormy  sea  of  experience,  set  out  to  become  "The 
greatest  shoemaker  in  the  world." 

60 


W.  L.  DOUGLAS 


WILLIAM  L.  DOUGLAS  6i 

It  was  a  nervy  ambition  for  a  young  man  possessing  nothing  but  his 
head  and  his  hands,  with  HabiHties  in  the  form  of  a  wife  and  three 
children.  He  was  without  capital,  without  influence,  without  com- 
mercial training. 

But  he  did  know  how  to  make  shoes  and  he  had  the  will  to  succeed, 
come  what  might. 

Let  us  first  look  at  the  young  shoemaker's  start  and  then  at  his 
present  place  in  the  world,  a  place  so  prominent  that  the  mere  pasting 
of  his  picture  on  an  envelope  in  almost  any  country  in  the  world 
will  serve  to  carry  the  letter  to  him. 

In  1876  a  shoemaker  rented  one  room  in  a  building  at  Brockton, 
Massachusetts,  and,  by  means  of  $875  of  borrowed  capital,  installed 
some  machinery  and  engaged  five  employees.  Every  day  he  trudged 
home  from  Boston  with  rolls  of  leather  under  his  arms.  This  leather 
he  personally  had  to  select.  He  personally  had  to  cut  it  up  to  be  made 
into  shoes  which  he  personally  had  designed.  He  personally  had  to 
lay  out  the  work  at  night  for  each  employee  and  had  to  supervise  its 
execution.  The  shoes  made,  he  personally  had  to  go  out  and  find 
buyers. 

All  this  seldom  took  him  more  than  eighteen  hours  a  day — if  he 
worked  twenty  hours  he  felt  he  had  put  in  a  couple  of  hours  overtime. 
His  output  was  forty-eight  pairs  per  day. 

Although  he  soon  outgrew  his  original  factory  and  had  to  move  into 
larger  quarters  three  times — in  1879,  again  in  1880,  and  again  in  1881, 
when  he  took  a  three-story  factory  and  ran  his  output  up  to  1,800 
pairs  a  day — he  was  still  dissatisfied  with  his  rate  of  progress.  To 
reach  the  goal  he  had  set  himself,  the  proud  position  of  the  world's 
greatest  shoemaker,  he  must  travel  faster  or  he  might  not  win  out. 

He  knew  the  shoes  he  was  making  were  good  shoes.  He  knew 
that  more  people  would  buy  them  if  more  people  learned  about  them. 
He  knew  he  could  develop  his  manufacturing  facilities  to  meet  an 
increased  demand.  He  knew  also  that  to  attain  his  ambition  more 
people  must  be  told  about  his  shoes. 

He  did  a  revolutionary  thing.  In  1883  he  began  to  advertise  sys- 
tematically, persistently,  extensively.  Advertising  then,  however, 
was  not  always  taken  seriously  by  the  public.  Much  of  it  was  down- 
right fraudulent,  more  of  it  was  grossly  misleading,  and  little  of  it  kept 
strictly  within  the  truth.  There  was  no  association  of  advertising 
clubs  to  censor  imaginative  effusions  of  vendors  of  merchandise. 
Exaggeration  was  accepted  as  a  matter  of  course.  Indeed,  the  in- 
dividual or  firm  who  spent  money  freely  on  advertising  was  often 
regarded  with  skepticism.  Surely  if  the  goods  were  all  right  they  could 
be  sold  without  the  expenditure  of  thousands  of  dollars  on  printers* 
ink! 


62  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

W.  L.  Douglas  had  a  product  of  which  he  was  proud.  To  show 
how  proud,  he  decided  to  stamp  his  own  picture  on  the  sole  of  every 
shoe  that  left  his  factory.  Of  course,  he  encountered  a  storm  cf 
ridicule.  He  was  accused  of  unconscionable  personal  vanity.  It  was 
sarcastically  remarked  that  he  wao  apparently  more  anxious  to  dis- 
tribute his  photograph  than  his  shoes. 

The  first  results  were  discouraging.  He  paid  out  more  money  than 
the  increase  in  returns  justified.  But  W.  L.  Douglas  was  not  one  of 
that  large  army  who  expect  strong,  healthy  plants  to  shoot  up  the 
moment  seed  is  sown  in  the  ground.  He  was  not  building  for  to-day 
but  for  to-morrow,  for  the  time  when  his  portrait  and  name  on  a  pair  of 
shoes  would  commend  these  shoes  to  men  and  women  throughout  the 
world.  He  could  stand  the  scoffing  of  those  ignorant  of  his  ambition 
and  barren  of  his  vision.  His  confidence  never  weakened,  his  per- 
severance never  wavered.  He  adhered  to  his  well-considered  course, 
spending  $250,000  and  more  annually  on  advertising  the  shoes  whose 
maker  was  not  ashamed  to  stamp  with  his  own  portrait. 

With  what  results? 

The  thirty-by-sixty  feet  one-room  factory  which  was  started  on  less 
than  $1,000  capital,  with  five  employees  and  an  output  of  forty-eight 
pairs  of  shoes  a  day,  has  developed  into  one  of  the  manufacturing 
and  mercantile  wonders  of  the  present  time.  Its  capital  is  not  $1,000, 
but  $3,500,000;  it  occupies  not  one  room,  but  a  group  of  spacious 
buildings  covering  300,000  square  feet;  its  output  is  not  a  few  pairs 
a  day,  but  over  5,000,000  a  year  (17,000  pairs  per  day)  worth  over 
$20,000,000.  The  force  of  five  workers  has  multiplied  into  an  army 
of  4,000  workers.  The  leather  consumed  is  not  transported  under 
the  arm  of  the  owner,  for  it  comprises  the  hides  of  1,860,000  animals 
yearly.  Nor  does  the  proprietor  personally  sell  the  whole  output, 
for  it  would  fill  every  car  of  a  train  6^  miles  in  length.  The  "acces- 
sories" called  for  annually  include  over  1,000,000  yards  of  cloth  and 
15,000  miles  of  flax  thread.  A  monument  over  500  miles  in  height 
could  be  raised  were  a  year's  output  of  shoes  stacked  one  on  top  of 
another. 

W.  L.  Douglas  has  handsomely  attained  his  ambition.  His  is  the 
largest  shoe  factory  in  the  world  under  one  roof  producing  men's, 
women's,  and  boys'  shoes.  Nor  is  this  all;  but  over  a  hundred  W. 
L.  Douglas  shoe  stores  have  been  established  here  and  abroad. 

The  portrait  of  W.  L.  Douglas  has  become  one  of  the  best-known 
trade-marks  in  the  world  and  has  earned  for  its  owner  greater  fame 
and  fortune  than  have  fallen  to  the  lot  of  his  old-time  scoffers. 

The  plucky  young  man  who  worked  eighteen  hours  a  day  to  gain  a 
foothold  on  the  ladder  did  not  later  permit  himself  to  become  a  mere 
shoe-making  or  money-making  machine.     His  vast  business  interests 


WILLIAM  L.  DOUGLAS  63 

did  not  prevent  him  from  discharging  his  full  civic  responsibilities. 
He  became  mayor  of  his  town,  a  State  Representative,  a  State  Senator 
and,  finally,  Governor  of  the  great  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts, 
an  extraordinary  tribute,  for  he  was  elected  on  a  Democratic  ticket  in 
a  State  invariably  controlled  by  Republicans.  Among  other  honours 
that  have  come  to  him  has  been  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D. 
(from  Tufts  College). 

No  boy  ever  had  a  less  auspicious  start.  He  came  into  the  world 
in  a  poor  home  in  Plymouth,  Mass.,  on  August  22,  1845,  and  was  only 
five  when  his  father  died.  His  mother  was  left  in  such  straitened 
circumstances  that  she  was  obliged  to  give  up  little  William  Lewis 
when  he  was  only  seven  years  of  age.  At  the  time  most  boys  are 
beginning  school,  this  lad  began  work.  He  was  bound  for  a  term  of 
years  to  an  uncle  who  was  less  interested  in  what  he  could  do  for  the 
boy  than  in  what  the  boy  could  do  for  him,  and  the  seven-year-old 
child  was  set  to  work  pegging  shoes  in  a  dismal  garret.  So  tiny  was 
he  that  he  had  to  stand  on  an  empty  box  to  reach  the  bench.  His 
duties  included  also  the  gathering  of  enough  wood  to  keep  two  fires 
going,  a  task  that  taxed  the  child's  strength,  and,  combined  with  his 
general  treatment,  almost — but  not  quite — broke  his  spirit.  When 
there  were  few  shoes  to  peg,  during  dull  seasons,  the  boy  was  permitted 
to  tramp  two  miles  to  school  and  there  spend  a  few  hours. 

For  four  years  he  stood  being  cuffed  and  scolded  and  ill-treated. 
Then  one  day  he  rebelled  and  set  off  home  to  his  mother.  Her  cir- 
cumstances had  not  greatly  improved,  and  as  the  boy  was  too  young 
(eleven)  to  be  sent  to  work  in  the  regular  way,  she  re-engaged  him  to 
the  uncle  at  $5  a  month.  Four  more  years  he  toiled  and  suffered 
amid  the  most  heartbreaking  environment.  Nor  did  it  brighten 
his  lot  to  be  denied  the  wages  promised  for  his  four  years'  servitude. 
All  the  uncle  ever  paid  was  ^10. 

His  period  of  bondage  over,  the  youth  took  a  job  in  a  cotton  mill 
at  Plymouth  at  thirty-three  cents  a  day.  A  broken  leg,  however, 
incapacitated  him  for  work.  But  nothing  could  daunt  his  spirit  or 
weaken  his  determination  to  equip  himself  for  the  battle  of  life.  The 
moment  he  could  use  crutches  he  hobbled  off  to  school,  a  distance  of 
two  miles,  and  every  day  he  covered  the  four  miles  in  order  to  increase 
his  scanty  knowledge.  Although  reared  amid  such  depressing  condi- 
tions, where  matters  educational  were  lightly  considered,  the  boy  had 
enough  commonsense  to  feel  that  ignorance  was  as  a  millstone  hung 
on  the  neck.  As  soon  as  he  could  discard  his  crutches  he  went  to 
work  on  a  farm  under  an  arrangement  that  permitted  him  to  attend 
school  as  much  as  possible  during  the  winter  months. 

All  this  William  Lewis  Douglas  had  passed  through  before  he  was 
sixteen  years  old.     Before  the  average  boy  of  his  age  had  wrestled 


64  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

with  anything  more  trying  than  school  books,  he  had  undergone  the 
sufferings  and  encountered  the  difficulties  of  a  lifetime.  Only  his  un- 
conquerable, irrepressible  determination  not  to  remain  an  ignorant 
drudge  buoyed  him  up.  At  sixteen  he  had  learned  some  things  not 
always  learned  at  school.  He  had  learned  self-reliance,  he  had 
grasped  the  value  of  knowledge,  he  had  cultivated  courage,  he  had 
imbibed  ambition.  Moreover,  he  had  learned  the  rudiments  of  a 
trade.  His  clean  habits,  his  frugal  living,  his  apprenticeship  in  hard 
work  had  built  up  for  him  an  iron  constitution,  a  body  that  could 
withstand  abnormal  physical  strain. 

Winter  on  the  farm  over,  he  returned  to  his  own  calling.  After  a 
spell  of  making  cheap  brogans  at  Hopkinton,  Mass.,  he  decided  to  go 
to  South  Abington,  Mass.,  and  see  if  there  was  an  opportunity  to 
learn  to  make  fine  boots.  On  the  train  he  heard  the  station  called  for 
South  Braintree  and,  thinking  it  was  his  stop,  got  off.  He  canvassed 
the  numerous  small  boot  shops,  but  no  one  wanted  an  apprentice. 
It  was  getting  dusk,  and  as  he  had  not  sufficient  funds  to  obtain  a 
lodging,  he  decided  to  walk  to  South  Weymouth.  He  started  off, 
thinking  that  perhaps  he  could  get  a  job  there.  As  darkness  came  on, 
however,  he  realized  that  when  he  reached  South  Weymouth  he  would 
not  find  anybody  up.  And  he  would  have  no  home  for  the  night. 
So  he  retraced  his  steps  through  the  darkness  to  South  Braintree. 

Here  he  secured  a  job  pegging  boots,  which  was  rough,  coarse 
work.  He  had  previously  applied  to  Anson  Thayer,  a  noted  shoe- 
maker, for  work,  and  Thayer,  on  discovering  him  near  by  pegging 
boots,  kept  an  eye  on  him  a  short  time,  and  then  agreed  to  take  him 
in  as  an  apprentice.  Here  for  three  years  he  learned  to  make  fine 
calf  boots — at  $1.50  a  week  and  his  board. 

The  long  hours  which  shoemakers,  in  common  with  most  other 
workmen,  then  toiled  did  not  prevent  him  from  attending  evening 
classes,  so  eager  was  he  to  make  up  for  his  early  lack  of  schooling. 

Out  West  there  was  a  shoemaker,  Zephaniah  Meyers,  whose  shoes 
were  known  far  and  wide.  Young  Douglas  sought  him  out,  and  under 
his  distinguished  tutelage  he  learned  the  art  of  designing  and  cutting 
shoes  of  superior  style.  Before  long  Douglas's  skill  began  to  be 
talked  about.  The  pupil  was  becoming  as  famous  in  the  trade  as  his 
master.  A  former  resident  of  the  Bay  State,  Alfred  Studley,  then  in 
business  at  Golden  City,  Colorado,  got  into  touch  with  Douglas  and 
offered  him  a  partnership.  Douglas  was  quick  to  realize  that  this 
would  afford  him  opportunity  for  experience  in  the  selling  of  shoes, 
and  thus  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age  his  name  appeared  on 
a  shingle.  Old-fashioned  methods  did  not  appeal  to  the  progressive 
young  man.  Therefore,  he  induced  his  older  partner  to  go  in  for 
advertising.     The  first  Douglas  shoe  advertisement,  the  precursor  of 


WILLIAM  L.  DOUGLAS  65 

so  many  thousands  on  a  more  ambitious  scale,  appeared  in  a  frontier 
news  sheet  in  li 
It  read: 


INDIANS! 
If  you  wish  to  run  away  from  the 
Indians  don't  go  barefoot,  but  buy  a 
pair  of 

BOOTS  OR  SHOES 
OF  STUDLEY  &  DOUGLAS 
who  keep  constantly  on  hand  a  good 
assortment  of  Boots  and  Shoes,  which 
they  will  sell  cheap  for  cash.  Particu- 
lar attention  paid  to  manufacturing 
and  repairing.  Store  on  Second 
Street,  opposite  the  Boutwell  House, 
Golden  City,  Colorado. 


The  making  of  shoes  by  machinery  began  to  come  into  vogue  in 
the  late  6o's,  and  the  clear-visioned  Douglas  was  quick  to  see  that  this 
opened  up  an  infinitely  wider  field  for  large-scale  operations.  He 
knew  every  kink  of  the  making  of  shoes  by  hand — how  to  select  the 
best  kinds  of  leather  for  specific  purposes,  how  to  design,  cut,  make, 
and  fit  shoes.  Nor  had  he  neglected  to  cultivate  as  best  he  could  the 
art  of  pleasing  customers.  Douglas  saw  that  the  greatest  possibilities 
lay  in  manufacturing  in  large  quantities,  and  this  was  feasible  only  by 
machinery.     Along  that  road  fortune  lay. 

It  was  in  1870  that  the  man  who  was  to  make  the  town  known  all 
over  the  world  arrived  in  Brockton,  then  North  Bridgewater.  He 
had  no  difficulty  in  receiving  a  responsible  position  with  Porter  & 
Southworth,  who  owned  a  factory  where  most  of  the  work  was  done 
by  machinery.  Here  his  ability  and  industry  won  him  promotion. 
By  the  end  of  five  years  he  was  superintendent  of  the  plant. 

Then  he  decided  to  strike  out  for  himself,  with  results  already  briefly 
narrated. 

In  reply  to  my  questions  concerning  his  own  career  and  the  pros- 
pects for  young  men,  Mr.  Douglas  said  that,  looking  back,  the 
most  trying  point  in  his  career  was  that  night  when  he  was  stranded 
on  the  outskirts  of  South  Braintree  in  the  dark,  without  a  penny, 
without  a  haven  for  the  night  and  without  a  job. 

"Servants  make  the  worst  masters,"  is  a  common  saying.  It  is 
sometimes,  perhaps  it  is  often,  true  that  labourers  or  artisans  who 
become  foremen,  superintendents,  managers,  or  employers  expect 
more  and  exact  more  from  workers  than  do  those  who  begin  higher  up 


66  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

the  scale.  Men  who  have  climbed  up  by  working  abnormally  hard 
themselves  are  apt  to  have  little  patience  with  those  who  do  not  show 
similar  industry. 

W.  L.  Douglas  is  not  of  this  type.  Indeed,  he  would  be  the  first 
to  admit  that  he  could  not  have  developed  his  colossal  business  had  he 
not  been  able  to  inspire  loyalty  among  his  employees.  He  still  regards 
himself  as  a  worker  and  looks  upon  his  employees  simply  as  co-workers. 
The  most  satisfactory  results  can  be  obtained  only  when  everybody 
is  satisfied.  He  wants  none  of  his  workers  to  undergo  such  trials 
as  he  himself  underwent  when  a  youth. 

It  may  not  be  generally  known  that  Mr.  Douglas  is  the  father  of 
arbitration  in  this  country.  It  was  largely  through  his  labours  that 
Massachusetts  led  the  country  in  passing  arbitration  and  conciliation 
legislation  and  established  a  State  board  to  administer  it.  As  early 
as  1886,  while  a  State  Senator,  he  introduced  a  bill  "to  provide  for 
the  settlement  of  difficulties  between  employers  and  their  employees." 
He  foresaw  that  only  by  such  methods  could  peace  be  preserved  be- 
tween capital  and  labour.  Too  often  in  those  days  employers  looked 
upon  workmen  merely  as  human  material  to  be  used  exactly  as  other 
material  was  used — to  the  best  advantage  of  the  employer.  What 
arbitration  has  done  to  maintain  industrial  peace  and  prevent  grave 
disorder  cannot  be  overestimated,  and  had  Mr.  Douglas  rendered  no 
other  public  service  than  this  he  would  have  deserved  well  of  his 
fellowmen. 

Among  other  reforms  which  he  brought  about  was  the  passage  of 
a  law  compelling  employers  to  pay  all  their  manual  workers  weekly, 
a  stipulation  that  seems  almost  superfluous  to-day,  but  one  that  was 
sorely  needed  a  generation  ago. 

The  Douglas  employees  are  well  taken  care  of.  The  services  of  a 
trained  nurse  and  a  physician  are  constantly  at  their  command,  gratis 
— the  doctor  may  be  called  to  the  home  of  any  employee  at  any  time 
without  charge.  Mr.  Douglas  has  donated  a  surgical  department  to 
the  Brockton  Hospital,  has  presented  the  City  with  a  Day  Nursery 
where  working  mothers  may  leave  their  children  during  the  day,  and 
is  a  liberal  contributor  to  other  worthy  causes,  although  in  his  philan- 
thropies he  is  as  much  opposed  to  advertising  as  he  is  in  favour  of  it 
in  business. 

In  addition  to  his  services  as  local  councilman  and  mayor,  as  State 
legislator  and  State  governor  (in  1905),  valuable  though  these  services 
were  in  raising  the  tone  of  politics,  W.  L.  Douglas  has  done  for  business 
ethics  something  that  should  not  be  overlooked  simply  because  his 
action  was  dictated  by  sound  commercial  considerations.  I  do  not 
refer  to  his  supplying  the  public  with  the  kind  of  shoes  that  so  many 
of  them  want  to  buy,  but  to  his  pioneer  work  in  stamping  on  each 


WILLIAM  L.  DOUGLAS  ^^ 

shoe  the  price  at  which  it  must  be  sold.  This  clean-cut,  straight- 
forward, one-price  method  of  doing  business  is  accepted  almost  uni- 
versally now,  but  our  fathers  and  mothers  can  well  remember  how 
difficult,  not  to  say  impossible,  it  was  to  make  sure  of  fair,  honest 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  retailers.  Buying  then  was  a  matter  of 
bickering  and  bargaining,  a  gamble  in  which  the  customer  usually 
was  not  the  victor. 

The  Douglas  system  of  selling  direct  from  the  factory  through  his 
own  retail  stores  also  marks  a  step  forward  in  merchandising. 

The  boy  who  began  pegging  shoes  at  seven  is  still,  at  seventy-two, 
pegging  away  at  shoemaking.  Only,  to-day  his  shoes  are  on  sale  at 
over  9,000  stores  and  are  being  worn  by  one  member  of  every  second 
family  in  America. 

Verily,  America  is  the  land  of  romance  in  real  life,  the  land  where 
merit  has  opportunity  to  blossom. 


JAMES  B.  DUKE 

A  MERICA  has  many  merchant  princes  and  captains  of  industry 
A-m  but  only  three  industrial  kings:  John  D.  Rockefeller,  the  Oil 
-A.  A^  King;  Andrew  Carnegie,  the  Steel  King,  and  James  B.  Duke, 
the  Tobacco  King.  The  history  of  the  first  two  is  well  known. 
The  career  of  the  third,  with  the  whys  and  wherefores  of  it,  is  here 
printed  for  the  first  time. 

Each  of  the  three  had  the  same  rough  road  to  travel,  the  same  ob- 
stacles to  cleave  and  clear.  Each  used  the  same  methods  and  the 
same  tools — intense  application,  ceaseless  watchfulness  for  opportun- 
ity, unwavering  courage  and  self-confidence,  readiness  to  assume 
responsibility,  rigid  frugahty  during  early  years,  with,  above  all, 
infinite  love  of  work  and  achievement. 

At  fourteen — note  the  age — James  B.  Duke,  after  having  experi- 
enced life  in  a  log  cabin  and  almost  inhuman  poverty,  won  the  position 
of  manager  of  the  family's  small  tobacco  factory — the  factory  which 
formed  the  nucleus  of  the  greatest  tobacco  enterprise  the  world  has 
ever  known,  an  enterprise  dominant  not  only  in  America  but  in  vir- 
tually every  country  under  the  sun. 

So  frugal  was  Mr.  Duke  and  so  determined  to  conserve  capital  for 
the  development  of  the  business  that,  after  he  was  earning  $50,000 
a  year,  he  lived  in  a  hall  bedroom  in  New  York,  and  ate  his  three 
meals  daily  in  the  cheapest  lunch  room  in  the  Bowery!  In  his  case,  as 
in  most  others,  phenomenal  final  success  entailed  phenomenal  early 
sacrifices. 

Young  Duke  deliberately  set  out  to  do  in  tobacco  what  John  D. 
Rockefeller  was  doing  in  oil.  And  he  succeeded  in  becoming  the 
most  powerful  tobacco  figure  in  history. 

The  reason?     Here  it  is,  in  Mr.  Duke's  own  modest  words: 

"I  have  succeeded  in  business,  not  because  I  have  more  natural 
ability  than  many  people  who  have  not  succeeded,  but  because  I  have 
applied  myself  harder  and  stuck  to  it  longer.  I  know  plenty  of  people 
who  have  failed  to  succeed  in  anything  who  have  more  brains  than  I 
had,  but  they  lacked  application  and  determination. 

"I  had  confidence  in  myself.  I  said  to  myself:  'If  John  D.  Rocke- 
feller can  do  what  he  is  doing  in  oil,  why  should  I  not  do  it  in  to- 
bacco?' I  resolved  from  the  time  I  was  a  mere  lad  to  do  a  big  busi- 
ness.    I  loved  business  better  than  anything  else.     I  worked  from 

68 


JAMES  B.  DUKE 


JAMES  B.  DUKE  ^ 

early  morning  to  late  at  night — I  was  sorry  to  have  to  leave  off  at  night 
and  glad  when  morning  came  so  that  I  could  get  at  it  again.  Any 
young  man  with  common  intelligence  can  succeed  if  he  is  willing  to 
apply  himself.     Superior  brains  are  not  necessary." 

Long  before  Schwab  or  Morgan  had  dreamed  of  a  huge  steel  trust, 
James  B.  Duke  conceived  the  idea  of  a  gigantic  tobacco  organization 
having  such  a  volume  of  business  as  to  be  able  to  sell  superior  goods 
at  lowered  prices.  Volume,  he  saw,  was  the  key  to  industrial  economy, 
efficiency,  and  success.  As  long  ago  as  1888  he  began  to  lay  founda- 
tions for  what  became,  in  1890,  the  American  Tobacco  Company, 
which  succeeded  so  well  that  it  supplied  80  per  cent,  of  America's 
cigarette,  pipe,  and  chewing  tobacco  and  snuff  before  the  Government 
"dissolved"  the  so-called  tobacco  trust,  in  191 1. 

Mr.  Duke,  moreover,  had  meanwhile  crossed  the  Atlantic,  v/aged  a 
terrifically  fierce  but  successful  war  in  England  and,  through  the 
British-American  Tobacco  Company,  had  gained  for  Americans  con- 
trol of  a  similarly  powerful  organization  in  Europe,  an  organization 
which  set  up  factories  in  Germany,  England,  Holland,  Denmark,  Fin- 
land, Belgium,  Austraha,  China,  India,  South  Africa,  Canada,  Ja- 
maica, Egypt,  etc. 

The  United  States  Government's  action,  however,  caused  the 
practical  control  to  fall  into  English  hands. 

"If  any  British  manufacturers  had  accomplished  half  as  much  for 
British  trade  as  was  accomplished  in  America,  they  would  have  been 
knighted;  here  you  are  indicted  and  they  want  to  put  you  in  jail," 
declared  Mr.  Duke  with  a  tinge  of  bitterness.  "It  discredits  a  man 
to  succeed  in  a  large  way  in  this  country  nowadays. 

"Why,  in  North  Carolina,  in  the  part  where  we  made  cigarettes, 
the  largest  tobacco  crop  the  farmers  ever  had  up  to  1890  did  not 
amount  to  more  than  from  ^4,000,000  to  $6,000,000.  The  crop  now 
yields  the  farmers  of  North  Carolina  from  $50,000,000  to  $60,000,000  a 
year.  I  did  my  own  share  in  making  this  development  possible  and  I 
refuse  to  feel  ashamed  of  it." 

Mr.  Duke's  share  was,  I  might  add,  at  least  ten  times  that  of  any 
other  individual.  He  was  the  dynamo  that  energized  the  whole 
machinery. 

The  evolution  of  the  obscure  Duke  tobacco  business  into  the  Ameri- 
can Tobacco  Company  contains  all  the  elements  dear  to  the  writer 
of  fiction — war  and  ruination,  log  cabins,  dire  poverty,  struggles 
born  of  necessity,  pluck  and  perseverance,  progress,  and  ultimate 
triumph. 

James  Buchanan  Duke — so  named  after  President  Buchanan,  last 
of  the  ante-bellum  Democrats  to  hold  that  office — was  a  four-year-old 
motherless  toddler  on  a  farm  three  miles  from  Durham,  N.  C,  when 


70  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

the  war  broke  out,  in  1861.  After  the  struggle  had  been  in  progress 
a  year  or  more  his  father  joined  the  Confederate  Army,  selling  out 
everything  he  had  for  Confederate  money  with  the  exception  of  a 
number  of  things  which  were  to  be  paid  for  in  tobacco,  settlement  to 
be  made  at  the  end  of  the  war.  The  children  were  sent  to  their  grand- 
father's, thirty  miles  from  Durham.  When  the  elder  Duke  returned  in 
the  spring  of  1865,  the  purchaser  of  the  farm  was  unable  to  make 
payment,  but  he  was  in  possession,  running  the  farm  and  occupying 
the  dwelling  house.  There  was  nothing  for  Duke  to  do  but  to  become 
temporarily  a  farm  labourer  for  the  other  man,  getting,  in  return,  a 
portion  of  the  crop. 

Little  James  B.,  with  his  father  and  two  brothers — his  mother  was 
dead — lived  throughout  the  winter  in  a  log  cabin  on  the  farm.  All 
four  slept  on  a  straw  tick  in  a  corner  of  the  cabin.  Their  sister  was 
given  a  bed  at  the  farmhouse. 

The  hardships  suffered  by  the  Duke  family  were  almost  heart- 
breaking. First  Wheeler's  Cavalry,  of  the  Confederate  Army,  and, 
later,  part  of  the  Northern  Army,  had  been  stationed  in  that  neigh- 
bourhood— the  surrender  of  Johnston  to  Sherman  took  place  near 
Durham.  The  soldiers  had  cleaned  up  everything  eatable  for  miles 
around.  Parched  corn  was  the  staple  food  of  the  people  in  those 
days.  Washington  Duke,  the  father,  regained  his  farm  in  the  spring 
and  eked  out  a  livelihood  for  the  family  by  buying  small  quantities 
of  tobacco  and  other  goods  in  one  district  and  bartering  it  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State  for  meat  and  flour,  which  he  brought  back 
and  peddled. 

Farmers  had  begun  to  grow  tobacco,  and  those  who  owed  Duke 
money  before  the  war  paid  him  in  that  cominodity.  He  began  to 
peddle  it  along  with  what  he  was  able  to  grow  himself.  As  the  sons 
became  old  enough  they  helped  both  on  the  farm  and  at  peddling. 
Having  made  a  little  headway,  the  Dukes  bought  the  tobacco  crops 
of  other  farmers  and  made  arrangements  to  ship  it  to  South  Carolina, 
Alabama,  and  other  points.  By  1871  the  business  had  grown  to 
from  40,000  to  50,000  pounds  a  year. 

James  B.  had  contrived  to  attend  a  free  school  during  the  fall  of 
each  year  when  work  on  the  farm  was  slack;  but  although  he  was  smart 
enough  at  his  lessons,  business  appealed  to  him  far  more  than  book- 
learning.  By  the  time  he  was  fourteen  he  had  shown  extraordinary 
aptitude  in  handling  and  peddling  tobacco.  He  was  full  of  ambition. 
He  was  keen  to  build  up  a  big  trade.  And  so  it  came  about  that  he 
was  installed  as  superintendent  of  the  little  log  factory  of  the  Dukes. 
Here  at  14,  he  was  bossing  about  a  score  of  workers  and  continually 
challenging  the  best  of  them  to  race  with  him  at  the  work — there  was, 
of  course,  no  machinery  then. 


JAMES  B.  DUKE  71 

By  the  time  James  was  eighteen  his  father  was  worth  ^10,000 
or  $15,000  and  was  anxious  to  send  the  bright  youth  to  college. 

James  astonished  him  by  replying:  "I  don't  want  to  go  to  college. 
I  want  a  partnership  in  this  business.  I  want  to  work  and  make 
money." 

Thinking  to  test  the  mettle  of  the  ambitious  youth,  the  father  said 
he  would  give  him  $1,000  and  let  him  go  off  on  his  own  account  for  a 
while. 

The  lad  promptly  prepared  to  launch  out  and  paddle  his  own  canoe. 

In  a  day  or  two,  however,  the  father  agreed  to  give  James  and  an- 
other brother  each  a  one-sixth  interest  in  the  business.  The  partner- 
ship boomed.  The  log  factory  no  longer  sufficed.  A  factory  was 
built  in  Durham.  "Duke  of  Durham"  tobacco  was  finding  an  ever- 
widening  market. 

Then,  in  1878,  there  was  a  consolidation.  The  Dukes  took  into 
partnership  George  W.  Watts  of  Baltimore  and  also  the  oldest  Duke 
brother,  Brodie  L,,  who  had  established  quite  an  extensive  tobacco 
business  of  his  own  at  Durham.  The  five  partners  were  W.  Duke 
(the  father),  B.  L.  Duke,  Mr.  Watts,  James  B.  Duke,  and  B.N.  Duke. 

The  capitalization  of  W.  Duke,  Sons  &  Company  was  $70,000. 
James  B.  had  saved  $3,000  and  his  father  lent  him  $i  1,000  to  make 
up  the  $14,000  which  each  partner  contributed. 

The  growing  of  tobacco  was  given  up  and  all  energies  were  centred 
upon  the  manufacturing  and  selling  of  leaf  bought  from  other  farmers. 
Again  the  growth  was  rapid.  But  as  the  only  field  covered  was 
granulated  smoking  tobacco,  the  younger  partners,  full  of  ambition, 
were  anxious  to  break  into  new  ground. 

The  cigarette  business  was  then  in  its  infancy,  the  total  sale  in  the 
United  States  being  well  under  200,000,000  cigarettes  a  year.  In 
1883  the  Dukes  took  what  was  to  prove  an  epochal  step:  they  decided 
to  enter  the  cigarette  field.  To  insure  success,  James  B.,  although  the 
youngest  partner  in  the  business,  being  only  twenty-seven,  was  put 
in  full  charge.  He  had  such  driving  power,  such  boundless  energy, 
such  physical  stamina,  such  ambition  and  vision  that  the  others 
unanimously  voted  to  serve  under  his  lead. 

From  the  start  the  new  move  proved  successful  beyond  their 
dreams,  more  business  being  oflTered  than  they  had  capital  to  handle. 
Advertising  was  used  most  effectively;  indeed,  the  Dukes  became 
the  largest  advertisers  of  that  day  in  the  United  States,  their  annual 
bill  reaching  as  high  as  $800,000. 

Within  a  year  a  very  large  brick  factory  had  to  be  built  in  Durham, 
whither  the  business  had  moved  in  1875.  It  was  decided,  also,  to 
invade  New  York  with  a  factory  for  the  manufacture  of  both  ciga- 
rettes and  pipe  tobacco. 


72  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

James  B.  Duke  came  to  the  metropolis  to  build  up  the  business. 
They  could  secure  more  orders  than  the  firm  had  capital  to  handle. 
It  was  at  this  stage  that  Mr.  Duke  lived  in  his  hall  bedroom,  ate 
regularly  in  a  Bowery  lunch  room  near  the  factory,  and  plowed  back 
into  the  business  ^49,500  of  the  $50,000  a  year  he  was  making.  Not 
that;  but  he  insisted,  against  much  opposition,  that  no  other  part- 
ner, married  or  single,  be  allowed  to  withdraw  more  than  }^i,ooo  a  year 
salary.  He  was  after  big  and  ever  bigger  business.  To  facilitate 
credit  and  other  operations,  the  firm  incorporated  in  1885.  The  out- 
put of  cigarettes  quickly  mounted  to  a  billion  a  year,  equal  to  40  per 
cent,  of  the  total  cigarette  business  in  the  country,  notwithstanding 
that  others  had  had  a  long  start  of  them. 

The  Alexandrian  head  of  W.  Duke,  Sons  &  Company,  Inc.,  how- 
ever, was  still  not  satisfied.  He  had  not  yet  reached  in  tobacco  the 
stage  Rockefeller  had  reached  in  oil.  There  were  still  other  lands  to 
conquer. 

Why  not  take  over  the  principal  tobacco  concerns  in  the  country, 
form  one  huge  company,  float  stock  and  obtain  capital  to  cover  the 
whole  land — and,  incidentally,  pave  the  way  for  the  invasion  of 
Europe? 

With  Duke,  dreams  never  long  remained  dreams;  they  were  made 
to  take  concrete  form.  This  one  was  so  revolutionary  that  he  spent 
nearly  two  years  in  bringing  it  to  fruition.  At  last,  in  1890,  he  formed 
the  American  Tobacco  Company,  which  included  four  of  the  principal 
tobacco  concerns  in  the  country  in  addition  to  the  Duke  business. 

"What  was  your  main  idea  in  bringing  about  such  a  gigantic 
merger?"  I  asked. 

"I  wanted  volume  and  organization,"  he  replied.  "A  business  in 
order  to  succeed  must  serve  the  public  better  and  cheaper  than  the 
other  fellow,  and  to  do  that  you  must  have  volume.  Our  aim  was 
to  serve  the  people  better  and  cheaper  than  anyone  else,  and  to  do 
that  we  had  to  have  volume.  We  were  not  especially  after  competi- 
tors; we  wanted  to  develop  tobacco  consumption  and  provide  a  good 
article  cheaply.  We  thought  that  if  we  did  this — and  we  knew  we 
could  do  it —  the  majority  of  the  public  would  find  it  advantageous 
to  buy  our  product. 

"That  was  just  what  happened.  The  American  Tobacco  Company 
went  ahead  so  fast  that  before  the  disintegration,  in  191 1,  we  were 
doing  a  business  of  about  $325,000,000  a  year.  This  was  80  per  cent, 
of  the  entire  tobacco  business.  The  goods  of  other  concerns  were 
oflTered  by  retailers  all  over  the  country,  but  our  product  was  better 
and  cheaper  and  the  public  naturally  preferred  it. 

"Another  reason  was  that,  while  our  firm  had  a  very  strong  position 
in  the  cigarette  end,  I  wanted  to  play  a  much  larger  part  in  the  to- 


JAMES  B.  DUKE  73 

bacco  end.  In  those  early  days  the  total  cigarette  business  in  the 
country  was  only  about  $8,000,000 — 2,000,000,000  cigarettes — where- 
as over  $100,000,000  was  spent  for  other  tobacco." 

For  the  business  which  started  in  the  little  log  factory  on  the  Duke 
farm  $7,500,000  was  received  in  1890! 

But  that  $7,500,000  secured  for  the  American  Tobacco  Company 
something  even  more  important — the  services  and  the  brains  of 
James  B.  Duke.  These  services  and  these  brains  were  needed.  It 
was  not  all  smooth  sailing  for  the  "trust."  English  manufacturers 
invaded  territory  supplied  by  America  and  were  playing  havoc  with 
the  export  division  of  the  business. 

Mr.  Duke  packed  a  trunk,  stepped  on  board  a  steamer,  in  1901,  and 
landed  in  London.  His  mission  was  merely  to  lick  the  English  manu- 
facturers to  a  frazzle  in  their  own  country! 

He  had  never  been  abroad  before  in  his  life.  He  knew  nothing  of 
England  or  of  England's  prejudices  and  practices.  But  did  the  pros- 
pect of  having  to  fight  the  most  plutocratic  tobacco  interests  of 
Britain  intrenched  for  many,  many  years,  daunt  him?  Not  at  all. 
He  was  confident  he  could  "do  the  trick." 

In  ten  days  he  had  secured  weapons  to  do  it  and  had  $5,000,000 
transferred  by  cable  to  clinch  matters! 

"However  did  you  manage  to  do  it  so  quickly?"  I  asked. 

"I  had  nothing  else  to  do,"  Mr,  Duke  replied,  as  if  that  explained 
his  achievement  fully  and  satisfactorily. 

"Just  how  did  you  go  about  your  famous  fight?"  I  persisted.  I 
happened  to  have  spent  some  time  in  England  at  that  period  and  had 
vivid  recollections  of  the  nation-wide  excitement  that  raged  there, 
with  the  English  newspapers  lashing  themselves  into  a  fury  over  the 
Yankee  tobacco  invasion. 

"I  went  to  our  London  office,"  replied  Mr.  Duke  after  indicating 
that  there  was  nothing  remarkable  in  what  he  did.  "I  looked  over 
the  product  of  the  chief  English  manufacturers,  learned  all  about  their 
position,  their  size,  and  so  forth.  In  two  days  I  decided  that  I  wanted 
control  either  of  Player's  or  Ogden's. 

"I  first  went  to  Player's,  at  Nottingham,  told  them  exactly  what  I 
was  after  and  asked  their  terms.  They  named  what  I  thought  was 
too  much.  So  I  next  went  to  Ogden's,  at  Liverpool.  The  managers 
were  willing  to  accept  the  offer  I  made  them,  and  within  a  few 
days  the  directors  approved  the  deal,  subject,  however,  to  the  sanction 
of  the  stockholders. 

"  By  this  time  the  English  manufacturers  were  thoroughly  alarmed. 
They  had  hastily  laid  their  heads  together  and  formed  a  combination 
under  the  name  of  the  Imperial  Tobacco  Company  to  fight  us.  They 
showed  up  at  Ogden's  the  day  the  stockholders  met  and  tried  to  queer 


74  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

my  deal  by  offering  to  pay  a  higher  price.  The  Ogden  directors  stood 
by  their  agreement,  however,  and  we  bought  the  business." 

Then  the  real  fight  began.  Every  manufacturer  in  Britain  turned 
his  artillery  upon  the  Yankee-controlled  Ogden's.  Wholesalers  and 
retailers  alike  joined  to  boycott  Ogden's  goods.  The  newspapers 
thundered  against  the  "treason"  of  Ogden's  in  selling  out  to  Ameri- 
cans and  urged  every  loyal  Briton  to  down  the  audacious  Yankee. 

James  B.  Duke,  however,  stood  by  his  guns.  Even  when  sales  of 
Ogden's  goods  dropped  50  per  cent,  and  the  Englishmen  were  hurrah- 
ing over  their  success,  he  never  for  a  moment  flinched.  He  tried 
first  one  selling  wrinkle  and  then  another.  It  was  during  this  historic 
tobacco  war  that  "souvenirs"  w^ere  distributed  lavishly  in  even  the 
smallest  packages  of  cigarettes.  Some  of  the  things  cost  almost  as 
much  as  the  tobacco.  Prices,  of  course,  were  cut  ruinously.  And 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  were  spent  in  advertising. 

Every  day  the  war  lasted  cost  ^3,000! 

But  Duke  won  before  a  year  had  passed. 

While  he  agreed  to  sell  out  all  his  company's  English  interests  to 
the  Imperial,  the  English  combine,  at  millions  of  profit,  in  due  course 
he  formed  the  British-American  Tobacco  Company  and  secured 
control  of  the  export  business  of  the  Englishmen's  combine,  the 
Imperial  Tobacco  Company,  so  that  he  became  and  still  is  the  domi- 
nant force  in  the  foreign  tobacco  business! 

When,  however,  the  United  States  Government  ordered  the  disin- 
tegration of  the  American  Tobacco  Company,  the  splitting-up  process 
resulted  in  a  great  many  shares  of  the  British-American  Tobacco 
Company  being  thrown  on  the  market,  and  these  were  grabbed  up  by 
English  buyers  to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  now  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses an  English  instead  of  an  American  concern,  with  the  stock 
usually  selling  several  dollars  a  share  higher  in  London  than  in  New 
York.  When  British-American  was  dominated  from  New  York  the 
company  naturally  favoured  American  goods  in  its  conquering  of 
foreign  markets,  but  now  Chinese,  Turkish,  Indian  and  other  tobacco 
is  pushed.  The  bulk  of  the  profits,  also,  now  go  to  English  pockets  in- 
stead of  to  American.  Its  sales  of  cigarettes  alone  approximate 
100,000,000  a  day. 

Mr.  Duke  remains  at  the  head  of  the  British-American  Company 
but  has  severed  all  official  connection  with  American  tobacco  com- 
panies, although  he  remains  a  large  stockholder  in  numbers  of  them. 

Although  before  the  war  he  found  it  necessary  to  spend  about  half 
his  time  abroad,  Mr.  Duke's  heart  is  still  in  his  native  land,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  South.  He  conceived  a  gigantic  project  for  the  in- 
dustrial development  of  his  native  State  and  its  sister.  South  Carolina. 
He  organized  the  Southern  Power  Company  to  supply  electric  power 


JAMES  B.  DUKE  75 

for  cotton  mills  and  other  plants,  including  street  railways,  lighting 
plants  and  other  activities  demanding  electric  current.  This  com- 
pany is  already  serving  75  towns  and  over  200  cotton  mills  operat- 
ing more  than  3,500,000  spindles,  while  it  also  runs  an  electric  rail- 
road of  125  miles.  Thanks  partly  to  this  furnishing  of  electric 
power  at  reasonable  cost,  the  Southern  cotton  mills  have  passed 
those  of  New  England  in  annual  output. 

Though  he  scraped  and  saved  every  penny  possible  during  the  long 
struggle  to  provide  sufficient  capital  for  the  development  of  his 
business,  and  urges  all  ambitious  young  men  to  do  likewise,  Mr.  Duke 
feels  that  he  is  now  entitled  to  enjoy  the  comforts  of  the  best  home 
money  can  procure.  His  estate  at  Somerville,  N.  J.,  has  1,000  acres 
of  lawns  and  is  one  of  the  show  places  in  the  State. 

Although  rich,  Mr.  Duke  does  not  believe  in  giving  away  money 
promiscuously.  He  declares  that  it  requires  even  more  study  and 
investigation  to  distribute  money  wisely  than  to  make  it.  His  ideal 
in  this  direction  is  John  D.  Rockefeller,  whose  benefactions,  he 
believes,  will  carry  Mr.  Rockefeller's  name  down  through  the  ages  as 
the  greatest  man  and  the  greatest  benefactor  to  humanity  the  world 
has  yet  produced. 


T.  COLEMAN  DU  PONT 

HOW  did  you  come  to  think  of  putting  up  the  largest  building 
in  the  world?"  I  asked  T.  Coleman  du  Pont,  owner  of  the 
^30,000,000  Equitable  Building  of  New  York,  the  business 
home  of  15,000  people,  with  2,300  offices,  1,225,000  square  feet  of 
rentable  space,  487  building  employees  and  59  elevators  serving  its 
40  floors,  which  rise  to  a  total  height  of  548  feet,  and  on  which  New 
York  reaps  taxes  of  ^9,000  every  week,  or  almost  $500,000  a  year. 

"Why,  someone  had,  I  imagine,  learned  that  anything  constructive 
appealed  to  me,"  replied  General  du  Pont,  "whether  it's  erecting  the 
greatest  skyscraper  in  the  world  or  only  a  dog  kennel,  whether 
building  a  road  or  a  street  car  line,  developing  a  coal  mine  or  a  steel 
plant,  building  up  a  powder  company  or  creating  a  real  farm  out  of 
barren  land. 

"The  Equitable  people  wanted  a  building  on  this  site.  I  found 
they  had  the  largest  single  plot  in  the  financial  heart  of  New  York — 
the  very  best  site  in  the  world.  The  idea  of  erecting  the  largest  office 
building  in  the  world  appealed  to  me.  When  I  found  I  could  get  a 
long-term  mortgage  at  a  fair  rate  of  interest  and  that  the  fundamental 
conditions  were  logical  and  the  time  for  building  economically  right, 
I  undertook  the  work.     The  finished  undertaking  speaks  for  itself. 

"Now  that  the  building  has  been  completed  and  its  organization 
working  smoothly,  it  does  not  call  for  my  attention.  I  like  conceiving, 
planning,  organizing,  systematizing,  and  getting  a  project  established 
successfully.  Then  I  want  to  start  something  else.  Just  now  I  am 
out  of  a  job." 

Out  of  a  job,  although  in  addition  to  being  interested  in  the  running 
of  the  world's  largest  building  he  controls  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance 
Society  with  its  $600,000,000  assets;  controls,  also,  important  coal 
mines  in  Kentucky;  runs  an  enormous  farm  in  Delaware  and  Mary- 
land; is  spending  $2,000,000  out  of  his  own  pocket  in  building  a  model 
highway  from  one  end  of  Delaware  to  the  other;  is  actively  interested 
in  several  large  hotels;  said  to  be  the  political  leader  of  the  Republi- 
can party  in  Delaware  (this  he  denies),  member  of  the  Republican 
National  Committee  from  Delaware,  and  I  do  not  know  what  else! 

"Why  did  you  buy  control  of  the  Equitable  Life  from  J.  P.  Morgan 
&  Co.?"  was  my  next  question. 

"It  was  after  the  building  was  completed.     The  Equitable  Society 

76 


COLKMAN  Du  POxN  1 


T.  COLEMAN  DU  PONT  77 

was  the  largest  tenant.  They  had  been  very  fair  in  dealing  with  me, 
so  I  thought  it  would  not  be  a  bad  idea  to  buy  the  Equitable  Life 
stock  and  mutualize  the  Society.  I  am  a  thorough  believer  in  the 
mutualization  of  the  company.  It  should  have  been  mutualized 
years  ago,  I  am  ready  and  anxious  to  cooperate  to  the  full  in  carry- 
ing out  any  plan  of  mutualization  that  is  fair  to  the  policy-holders  and 
desired  by  the  directors." 

The  American  public  regards  the  name  "Du  Pont"  as  spelling 
powder  and  riches.  Coleman  du  Pont  had  nothing  to  do  with  powder 
until  after  he  had  made  a  fortune — and  he  made  his  own  fortune.  At 
thirty-eight  he  had  given  up  active  business  to  enjoy  a  life  of  leisure. 

"  It  would  be  very  interesting  to  tell  just  how  you  became  associated 
with  the  Du  Pont  Powder  Company,"  I  suggested. 

"Certainly  I'll  tell  you,"  he  replied  with  his  characteristic  direct- 
ness and  brevity.  "Eugene  du  Pont,  head  of  the  company,  had  died 
and  no  other  member  of  the  family  cared  to  take  his  place.  One  day 
I  received  a  message  from  my  cousin,  Alfred  I.  du  Pont,  asking  me  to 
consider  going  into  the  business.  After  talking  with  Alfred,  the  mat- 
ter was  taken  up  with  the  other  members  of  the  family  in  the  old  firm. 
None  of  them  was  willing  to  take  on  the  active  duties  of  management, 
I  then  got  in  touch  with  Pierre  S.  du  Pont,  who  was  living  at  Lorain, 
Ohio,  and  he  came  east.  We  told  him  of  the  plan.  The  result  of  the 
conference,  between  the  members  of  the  family  in  the  old  firm  and 
Pierre  S.  du  Pont,  Alfred  I.  du  Pont,  and  myself,  was  that  we  three 
younger  cousins  took  over  the  concern. 

"When  we  took  hold  of  it  there  were  seven  clerks  in  the  main 
office  of  the  company  we  went  into.  This  company,  however,  had 
important  interests  in  other  explosive  companies." 

"How  many  clerks  are  there  now?"  I  asked. 

"I  think  between  1,600  and  1,700  in  the  main  office  when  I  left  and 
I  believe  there  are  now  between  2,500  and  3,000  employees  in  the 
main  office." 

The  effectiveness  of  a  good  organization  was  demonstrated,  when 
the  unfortunate  war  broke  out  in  Europe,  by  the  way  the  Du  Pont 
Company  responded  to  a  call  for  an  increase  of  output  multiplied  by 
100.  They  have  anticipated  many  of  their  deliveries  although  it 
did  take  40,000  men  on  construction  work  at  one  time  to  do  it! 
There  have  been  no  strikes. 

"How  was  it  done.f'"  I  asked. 

"The  first  thing  we  did  was  to  amalgamate  all  of  the  many  different 
companies  and  the  scores  of  sub-companies  controlled  by  the  Du 
Ponts  into  one  corporation.  This  meant  efficiency  and  economy  in 
every  department.  The  consolidated  concerns  were  systematized 
and  standardized  and  the  best  methods  put  into  practice,  depart- 


78  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

ments  created  and  the  managers  given  responsibility  and  offered 
premiums  for  results. 

"  I  knew  nothing  of  the  manufacturing  of  powder  except  the  general 
chemistry  which  I  had  learned  at  school.  My  cousins  had  this  knowl- 
edge and  experience.  I  was  familiar,  however,  with  the  use  of  it 
commercially  and  had  had  successful  experience  in  organizing  and 
systematizing  several  industries. 

"We  engaged  the  best  men  we  could  find.  We  paid  six  men  very 
large  salaries — and  they  were  the  cheapest  labour  we  had,  for  their 
brains  could  make  thousands  for  the  company  annually." 

For  four  or  five  years  Coleman  du  Pont  worked  from  early  every 
morning  till  late  every  night.  He  thought  powder,  talked  powder, 
ate  powder,  dreamed  powder.  In  three  years  success  was  assured — 
and  the  company  has  continued  to  grow  by  enormous  strides  ever 
since. 

The  skilful  utilization  of  by-products  was  also  taken  up  by  the 
aggressive  new  management.  To-day  the  Du  Ponts  are  not  only 
the  largest  makers  of  explosives,  but  are  the  world's  largest  manufac- 
turers of  leather  substitutes — 60  per  cent,  of  the  1,500,000  automobiles 
manufactured  within  the  last  twelve  months  have  been  upholstered 
In  Fabrikoid,  one  of  its  products,  thus  tending  to  keep  down  the  price 
you  and  I  have  to  pay  for  shoes.  Its  output  of  ivory  and  shell  sub- 
stitutes Is  enormous.  Moving  picture  films  are  largely  composed  of 
Du  Pont  basic  materials.  The  wonderful  anesthetic,  ether,  which 
enables  surgeons  to  work  painless  miracles,  is  produced  in  larger 
quantities  In  the  Du  Pont  plants  than  anywhere  else  in  America.  [I 
have  In  front  of  me  a  list  of  commodities  made  and  sold  by  the  con- 
cern; the  total  is  251.] 

It  was  characteristic  of  Coleman  du  Pont,  however,  when  the 
company's  success  was  absolutely  assured,  that  he  should  get  out. 
He  had  done  the  job  he  undertook;  the  business  was  running  perfectly; 
everything  had  been  systematized  and  standardized,  so  it  possessed 
no  more  attraction  for  him ! 

It  will  astonish  the  public  to  learn  that  In  normal  times  less  than 
2  per  cent,  of  the  Du  Pont  Powder  Company's  output  went  for  mili- 
tary purposes.  The  company  supplies  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment with  the  larger  part  of  Its  powder  requirements  every  year,  but 
this  did  not  mean  more  than  about  one  per  cent,  of  Its  entire  output. 
Some  99  per  cent,  of  the  output  made  was  sold  for  mining  purposes, 
railroad  building,  road  construction,  quarry  work,  farming  operations, 
sport,  leather  substitutes,  and  miscellaneous  uses. 

Coleman  has  In  him  some  of  the  stuff  that  makes  heroes.  His 
friends  are  sanguine  he  may  one  day  become  a  great  national  figure, 
somewhat  of  the  Roosevelt  type.  Physically,  he  Is  a  giant — when  nine- 


T.  COLEMAN  DU  PONT  79 

teen  he  stood  six  feet  four  inches  and  weighed  210  pounds.  He  went 
in  for  every  form  of  athletics — he  was  stroke  of  the  crew,  captain 
of  the  football  team,  captain  of  the  baseball  nine,  ran  100  yards  in 
10  seconds,  could  break  in  broncos  with  the  skill  of  a  cowboy,  was 
and  is  a  good  shot,  can  swim  like  a  Trojan,  was  a  star  man  in  tug-of- 
war  competitions,  and  held  his  own  in  the  boxing  and  wrestling  ring. 

"If  I  had  been  as  good  at  my  studies  as  I  was  at  athletics  I  would, 
no  doubt,  have  been  a  professor,"  he  laughed,  referring  to  his  college 
days.  So  thoroughly  has  he  kept  in  trim  that  his  weight  has  not 
increased  five  pounds  from  the  day  he  left  school.  His  shoulders 
look  as  broad  as  Jess  Willard's  and  his  muscles  are  of  veritable  whip- 
cord. 

He  is  democracy  personified.  His  democracy  is  not  assumed;  it  is 
not  make-believe,  artificial,  or  calculated.  He  acquired  it  when 
driving  mules  and  swinging  a  pick  down  in  Kentucky  coal  mines, 
and  the  inflow  of  millions  of  dollars  has  not  swept  it  out  of  him.  No 
multi-millionaire  in  America  is  easier  to  approach.  The  people  who 
have  worked  for  him  worship  him.  He  mingles  with  them  like  one 
of  themselves — and  is  more  ready  to  give  them  a  helping  hand  than 
to  trounce  them. 

He  is  the  kind  of  man — he  did  this  very  thing — who  can  collect 
fares  on  a  trolley  car  for  several  blocks  to  relieve  the  conductor,  help 
off  elderly  ladies  with  a  child  in  each  arm,  and  do  it  with  the  same 
interest  as  if  a  vital  twenty  dollars  were  coming  to  him  for  it  at  the 
end  of  the  week. 

Also,  Coleman  du  Pont  is  a  man  who  has  done  things — and  Ameri- 
cans like  doers  rather  than  talkers.  Starting  at  the  bottom,  he  rose 
to  be  head  of  a  Kentucky  coal  property  and  upbuilt  Central  City, 
making  it  a  place  working  people  wanted  to  live  in.  He  became  head 
of  other  coal  companies  and  is  still  largely  interested  in  them.  He 
succeeded  as  a  steel  man  and  then  as  a  street-railroad  builder  and 
operator.  Next  he  took  the  lead  in  making  the  Du  Pont  Powder 
Company  one  of  the  most  efficient  and  prosperous  enterprises  in  the 
United  States.  The  $2,000,000  highway  across  the  State  of  Delaware 
is  already  far  advanced  and  when  it  is  finished  he  will  present  it  to 
the  State.  He  is  an  enthusiastic  trustee  of  the  Massachusetts  In- 
stitute of  Technology  (his  Alma  Mater),  has  contributed  about 
$1,000,000  to  its  expansion,  and  names  his  pleasure  boats  "Tech" — 
"Tech  Jr.  II"  broke  all  records  for  speed  in  191 5.  He  farms,  and 
farms  successfully,  on  a  gigantic  scale,  breeding  the  finest  draft 
horses,  and  owns  herds  of  registered  cows,  pigs,  and  sheep. 

While  at  Wilmington  he  threw  himself  into  the  work  of  creating  an 
efficient  National  Guard,  his  belief  being  that  the  nation's  citizens 
should  fit  themselves  to  defend  their  homes  rather  than  saddle  the 


8o  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

country  with  a  huge  standing  army.  He  was  made  Brigadier-General 
on  the  staff  of  three  successive  governors  of  Delaware. 

He  was  not  a  politician,  but  in  order  to  rid  Delaware  of  "Gas" 
Addicks,  who  for  twelve  years  had  prevented  the  state  from  being 
represented  in  the  United  States  Senate,  he  jumped  into  the  arena  and 
drove  Addicks  out  bag  and  baggage.  He  became  State  Chairman 
but  declined  the  offer  of  a  Senatorship  then  and  also  later.  As  a 
member  of  the  Republican  National  Committee  in  190S  he  supported 
Taft  and  for  a  time  was  in  charge  of  the  speakers'  bureau  in  that 
campaign.  In  1916  his  Delaware  friends  insisted  upon  bringing 
his  name  forward  for  presidential  honours,  but  the  General  told  them 
he  did  not  admire  their  judgment! 

Coleman  du  Font's  father,  Antoine  Bidermann  du  Pont,  was  not  in 
the  powder  company.  Early  in  life  the  father,  with  a  brother,  went 
West  to  seek  his  fortune.  They  finally  settled  in  Louisville,  Ky., 
where  Coleman  du  Pont  was  born,  on  December  ii,  1863.  The  two 
brothers  acquired  an  interest  in  a  paper  mill,  street  railroads,  coal 
mines  in  western  Kentucky,  and  had  their  average  share  of  ups  and 
downs.  Coleman  du  Pont  early  contracted  a  fondness  for  construct- 
ing things  and  was  sent  to  the  famous  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  where  he  received  the  customary  thorough  training  as  a 
mining  engineer. 

From  the  "Tech"  he  went  to  Central  City,  Ky.,  and  learned  coal 
mining  from  underground  up.  He  shouldered  a  pick  and  dug  coal, 
drove  mules,  looked  after  the  horses,  served  in  the  blacksmith's  shop, 
shod  mules  and  horses,  did  carpenter  work,  filled  a  fireman's  job,  ran 
an  engine  and  tackled  engineering  problems.  He  lived  the  life  of  a 
miner,  mixed  with  miners,  attended  their  weddings  and  funerals  and 
other  functions,  and  became  the  most  popular  man  on  the  property. 
He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Labour,  the  miners'  union 
of  that  day. 

He  rose  to  be  superintendent  and  was  largely  instrumental  in 
developing  the  Central  Coal  and  Iron  Company  into  an  extensive 
enterprise.  From  a  village  with  but  one  general  store  and  less  than  ten 
straggling  dwellings  when  he  started  there,  Central  City  grew  to  be  a 
prosperous  industrial  town  of  7,500  inhabitants  with  row  after  row  of 
model  dwellings  for  the  working  people.  Superintendent  du  Pont, 
as  the  principal  figure  in  the  community,  took  the  lead  in  remodelling 
Central  City.  He  got  the  people  to  work  with  him  enthusiastically  in 
improving  their  living  conditions  and  environment.  His  popularity 
and  democracy  enabled  him  to  become  an  effective  leader  in  this 
movement. 

This  he  accomplished  before  he  was  thirty!  At  that  age  he  left 
Kentucky  for  Johnstown,  Pa. 


T.  COLEMAN  DU  PONT  8i 

"Why  did  you  pull  up  stakes  and  leave  your  native  territory?"  I 
asked. 

"The  best  man  in  western  Kentucky  coal  fields,  the  president  of 
the  biggest  coal  company  there,  was  getting  ^4,000  a  year,"  he  replied. 
"I  felt  I  wanted  to  try  and  see  if  I  could  not  do  better  than  that.  I 
made  up  my  mind  to  break  into  the  biggest  industry  in  the  country. 

"Arthur  J.  Moxham,  the  steel  man  of  Johnstown,  Pa.,  and  Tom  L. 
Johnson,  afterward  Mayor  of  Cleveland,  had  started  to  work  for  my 
father  at  fifty  cents  a  day,  so  I  got  a  job  as  general  manager  with  their 
concern  in  Johnstown,  Pa."  What  was  then  the  Johnson  Company 
afterward  became  the  Lorain  Steel  Company,  now  a  subsidiary  of 
the  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 

After  five  or  six  years,  he  became  interested  in  street  railways,  and 
went  into  this  on  a  large  scale — for  example,  he  bought  the  car  line 
in  Johnstown,  and  built  in  New  Jersey,  New  York,  and  Alabama. 

"I  never  liked  work,"  he  remarked. 

"What?"  I  exclaimed.  "For  a  man  who  never  liked  work  you 
seem  to  have  done  a  fair  share  of  it." 

"I  mean  it.  I  would  rather  play  than  work  any  day.  I  worked 
and  worked  hard  while  I  was  at  it — only  because  I  had  to.  I  could 
not  get  along  any  other  way  to  do  things  worth  doing.  I  don't  give 
a  snap  for  money  except  that  you  cannot  get  on  without  it — and  you 
cannot  do  little  things  for  your  friends,  to  say  nothing  of  big  con- 
structive jobs,  without  capital." 

It  was  at  this  stage  of  his  career  that  the  Du  Ponts  of  Wilmington 
called  him  in  to  take  the  helm  and  try  to  steer  the  business  into  pros- 
perous channels.     How  he  succeeded  is  a  matter  of  history. 

Coleman  du  Pont  has  his  own  theory  about  roads  and  their  upkeep. 
No  man  has  done  more  to  arouse  the  American  nation  to  the  necessity 
for  good  roads,  both  as  a  peace  and  a  war  measure. 

"I  believe  that  more  money  will  be  spent  in  the  next  twenty-five 
years  in  building  roads  than  has  been  spent  in  the  last  twenty-five 
years  in  building  railroads,"  he  declared.  "I  have  been  building  good 
roads  since  I  was  nineteen.  At  that  age  I  found  it  was  cheaper,  and  a 
little  easier  on  my  temper,  to  fill  up  the. holes  in  the  road  than  to  be 
continually  lifting  wagons  out  of  these  holes. 

"Provision  must  be  made  for  maintenance;  to  keep  a  road  good  it 
must  be  maintained.  This  costs  money — a  lot  of  it.  My  plan  to 
provide  for  this  at  first  and  to  keep  down  road  tax  (one  of  the  banes  of 
modern  life),  is  to  have  the  State,  the  county,  the  city,  or  whoever 
builds  a  road,  set  apart  a  width  of,  say,  250  feet,  permanently  re- 
serving, say,  50  feet  in  the  centre  for  road  purposes,  pipe  line,  railways, 
telephone,  etc.  The  building  of  a  good  road  always  advances  the 
value  of  the  adjacent  land.     Let  the  State,  county  or  city,  lease  the 


82  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

remaining  200  feet,  100  feet  on  each  side  of  the  roadway,  and  in  a  very 
short  time  the  income  will  far  more  than  maintain  the  road. 

"As  an  example:  About  1791,  I  have  been  told,  a  law  was  passed 
in  New  York  State,  appropriating  $30,000  to  build  a  stone  road 
from  Canal  Street,  New  York  City,  north  as  far  as  the  money  would 
go.  Suppose  the  State  or  city  had  acquired  100  feet  on  either  side 
of  Broadway  from  Canal  Street  to,  say,  Tarrytown,  the  income  would 
probably  amount  now  to  $100,000,000  annually. 

"This  is  the  system  I  am  following  in  building  the  road  through 
Delaware.  I  am  going  to  give  the  road  to  the  State  and  put  the  ad- 
joining property  in  trust,  the  income  from  which  will  be  forever  avail- 
able for  roads  or  for  other  purposes." 

Coleman  du  Pont  married  a  second  cousin,  Miss  Alice  du  Pont, 
of  Wilmington,  in  the  days  when  he  was  working  at  the  coal  mines  in 
Kentucky.  He  has  three  daughters,  two  of  them  married,  and  two 
sons,  the  elder  a  student  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Tech- 
nology, the  younger  at  Hill  school. 


i 


'^ 


s* 


I 


GEORGE  EASTMAN 


GEORGE  EASTMAN 

THE  story  of  the  birth  and  cradling  of  the  Kodak  has  never 
before  been  told. 
It  is  a  story  containing  all  the  elements  of  poverty  and 
pluck,  of  plodding  and  perseverance,  of  hope  and  despair.  Also 
these  other  fitting  elements:  a  widowed  mother,  broken  in  health, 
suddenly  plunged  into  financial  misfortunes  and  a  young  son  deter- 
mined to  overcome  the  necessity  for  her  keeping  a  boarding-house. 
The  picture  gives  a  glimpse  of  the  youth  working  all  day  as  a  clerk  and 
then  working  and  experimenting  in  a  little  improvised  workshop  all 
night,  snatching  an  hour's  sleep  now  and  again  while  his  chemicals 
were  cooking,  for  several  nights  on  end  his  bed  knowing  him 
not. 

Then  came  sufficient  success  to  warrant  giving  up  the  clerical  posi- 
tion and  providing  a  modest  home.  Fame,  even,  came  to  the  young 
inventor.  His  photographic  plates  were  recognized  as  the  best  the 
world  had  ever  produced.     He  branched  out  as  a  manufacturer. 

Then  black,  inexplicable,  unfathomable  failure.  His  formula, 
the  sensation  of  the  photographic  world,  refused  to  work.  Sleepless 
investigation  and  experimentation  were  of  no  avail.  Disaster — 
mysterious,  incurable — had  befallen.  Ruin  faced  him  and  his  little 
band  of  workers. 

How  defeat  did  not  daunt  the  young  man,  how  his  resourcefulness 
triumphed,  crowns  the  story,  the  story  of  George  Eastman,  the  man 
who  made  us  all  photographers,  the  man  whose  ingenuity  has  made 
America  the  fountain-head  of  photographic  supplies  for  every  nation 
on  earth. 

Nor  is  the  story  lacking  in  respect  of  how  the  poor  boy,  on  becoming 
rich,  used  his  millions.  To  his  titles  of  inventor,  chemist,  scientist, 
manufacturer,  merchant,  and  financier  can  be  added  very  truthfully 
that  of  public  benefactor,  for  George  Eastman  in  his  later  years  has 
devoted  almost  as  much  time  to  the  intelligent  giving  of  money  as  to 
amassing  it. 

Also,  the  story  can  be  rounded  out  with  the  statement  that  its 
hero  is  the  embodiment  of  modesty.  When  he  goes  camping  for  weeks 
in  the  woods  or  exploring  among  mountains  he  does  his  own  cooking, 
and  when  he  visits  the  large  model  farm  he  established  in  North 
Carolina  for  the  teaching  of  scientific  agricultural  methods  to  Negroes 

83 


84  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

he  Is  not  above  taking  tools  or  implements  in  his  own  hands  and 
showing  them  how  a  job  ought  to  be  done. 

Now  let  us  tell  the  story  in  detail. 

Six  years  after  he  was  born,  on  July  12,  1854,  at  Waterville,  N.  Y., 
George  Eastman's  family  moved  to  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  where  his  father 
died  within  a  year.  The  father  was  the  originator  of  the  business 
college  idea,  and  the  successful  establishment  he  iounded  was  man- 
aged for  a  time  after  his  death  by  a  brother.  But  it  did  not  survive 
its  founder  many  years. 

George,  the  only  son — there  were  two  sisters — was  taken  from 
school  when  fourteen  years  old,  and  set  to  work  in  an  insurance  office 
at  $3  a  week.  The  mother,  tiiough  a  semi-invalid,  was  a  woman  of 
unusual  ability  and  resource  and  played  well  her  part  in  supporting 
the  little  family. 

"I  then  conceived  a  terror  of  poverty,"  Mr.  Eastman  told  me 
reminiscently.  "It  haunted  me  by  day  and  by  night.  I  was  so 
careful  of  my  pennies  that,  although  I  clothed  myself  and  helped  in  a 
small  way  at  home,  I  managed  to  save  $37.50  the  first  year  and  put  it 
in  the  bank." 

Young  as  he  was,  he  realized  that  hard  work  was  the  only  road 
leading  from  the  slough  of  poverty  to  the  hilltop  of  success.  He  was 
soon  drawing  a  salary  of  $600  a  year,  the  maximum  the  insurance 
office  could  pay;  but  his  employer,  realizing  young  Eastman's  worth, 
recommended  him  for  the  position  of  bookkeeper  in  a  savings  bank 
which  paid  i5i,ooo  a  year. 

An  abnormally  active  brain,  deft  fingers,  and  a  love  for  tools  had 
induced  him  to  become  an  amateur  mechanic  after  office  hours.  Soon 
he  had  quite  a  little  workshop  w  here  most  of  his  spare  time  was  spent 
in  making  things,  especially  little  contrivances  of  original  design. 
He  longed  to  travel,  to  see  some  of  the  wonderful  things  the  world 
had  invented  and  constructed.  He  had  an  unquenchable  thirst  for 
knowledge.  His  thoughts  of  travel  gave  birth  to  another  thought: 
he  must  equip  himself  to  take  pictures  of  the  sights  he  would  see. 

To  a  Rochester  photographer  he  paid  $5  for  detailed  instruction  in 
photography,  then  conducted  by  the  wet-plate  process.  This  im- 
pressed him  as  an  awkward,  clumsy,  unsatisfactory  way  of  doing 
things.  His  first  achievement  in  the  field  of  photography  was  the 
construction  of  a  handy,  portable  outfit.  Experiments  to  improve 
on  the  wet-plate  process  were  temporarily  interrupted  by  promotion 
at  the  bank,  entailing  the  learning  and  execution  of  more  important 
and  more  onerous  duties. 

Then  came  news  from  England  of  the  discovery  of  the  gelatine  dry- 
plate  process.  Eastman  Immediately  became  interested,  and  though 
without  any  information,  outside  of  scraps  to  be  picked  up  In  photo- 


GEORGE  EASTMAN  85 

graphic  journals,  he  resumed  his  experiments.  After  repeated  failures 
he  began  to  get  results — and,  almost  of  equal  importance,  he  grasped 
the  idea  that  this  could  be  made  a  manufacturing  business,  that  dry 
plates  could  be  produced  and  sold,  whereas  under  the  old  wet  process 
only  materials  to  make  them  could  be  marketed,  the  buyer  having 
personally  to  take  the  raw  materials  (nitrate  of  silver,  colodion,  and 
a  piece  of  glass),  hide  himself  in  a  dark  tent,  smear  the  glass  with  the 
colodion,  and  dip  it  in  a  bath  of  nitrate  of  silver.  Few  amateurs  cared 
to  undertake  such  a  job  for  the  sake  of  trying  to  take  a  picture  which 
oftener  than  not  would  turn  out  a  failure.  Dry  plates,  on  the  other 
hand,  could  be  manufactured  in  large  quantities  and  sold. 

George  Eastman  discerned  vast  possibilities.  Opportunity  was 
holding  out  her  arms  to  him.  He  would  become  a  manufacturer  of 
dry  plates. 

But  what  of  his  domestic  responsibilities?  He  was  now  (1879) 
drawing  $1,400  a  year  at  the  bank  and  was  the  sole  support  of  his 
mother.  The  new  venture  at  best  was  speculative.  Lots  of  other 
people  abroad  and  at  home  had  taken  up  the  making  of  dry  plates 
and  there  was  no  certainty  that  he  could  earn  a  living  at  it.  The 
spectre  of  poverty  awed  him. 

Both  intuition  and  ambition,  however,  urged  him  on,  and  his  alert 
mind,  his  keen  perception,  his  sound  commonsense,  quickly  solved 
the  problem.  He  hired  a  room  as  a  workshop  for  a  few  dollars  a 
month,  engaged  a  young  man  to  look  after  the  routine  work  during 
the  day,  and  he  himself  did  all  the  delicate  chemical  operations  at 
night,  after  finishing  at  the  bank.  Usually  his  office  hours  were  short, 
but  during  interest  and  balancing  periods,  overtime  was  necessary, 
and  on  such  occasions  it  was  not  uncommon  for  young  Eastman  to 
toil  all  night  in  his  little  factory  without  a  chance  to  undress  or  to  go 
to  bed,  his  sleep  consisting  only  of  very  brief  naps  while  chemicals 
were  working.  When  Saturday  night  came  he  went  home  to  bed  and 
usually  slept  straight  through  until  Monday  morning,  aroused  only 
to  eat  a  meal  or  two  on  Sunday. 

Eastman  plates,  however,  were  rapidly  becoming  famous.  There 
vv^as  a  demand  for  more  than  he  and  his  youthful  assistant  could  make. 

"What  was  the  secret  of  the  superiority  of  your  plates?"  I  asked 
Mr.  Eastman. 

"I  just  happened  to  hit  upon  a  good  formula;  it  was  more  or  less 
luck,"  he  replied  modestly.  "Even  to-day,  after  thirty  years,  the 
making  of  the  proper  emulsion  is  somewhat  empirical,  and  only  a  few 
men  can  do  it  satisfactorily.  The  actions  and  reactions  connected 
with  the  producing  of  sensitiveness  are  still  only  imperfectly  under- 
stood by  chemists.  For  example,  the  difference  between  a  solution 
which  makes  a  picture  in  i, 000th  part  of  a  second  and  a  solution  that 


86  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

takes  seconds  to  print  by  gaslight  has  not  been  thoroughly  and  scien- 
tifically defined.  The  securing  of  great  sensitiveness  is  a  matter  of 
experiment,  and  has  been  worked  out  by  only  about  a  dozen  people 
in  the  world  to-day.  I  chanced  to  strike  a  combination  that  was  very 
good  at  that  time.'* 

The  local  photographer  who  had  taught  Eastman  how  to  use  wet 
plates  readily  bought  the  greatly  improved  product  of  his  former 
pupil.  While  this  photographer  was  taking  pictures  at  the  Thousand 
Islands,  the  head  of  a  leading  firm  of  importers  and  jobbers  of  photo- 
graphic supplies  noticed  him  taking  pictures  without  using  any  dark 
tent  and  asked  him  what  he  was  doing.  Told  that  gelatine  dry  plates, 
made  by  a  young  fellow  in  Rochester,  were  being  used  with  excellent 
results,  he  induced  Eastman  to  bring  to  New  York  samples  of  his 
product.  Convinced  they  were  superior  to  anything  else  on  the  mar- 
ket, the  firm  arranged  to  purchase  quantities  at  wholesale  prices, 
Eastman  retaining  the  right  to  sell  to  retailers  at  a  higher  figure. 

Eastman  advertised  his  plates  and  from  that  day  on  was  oversold. 
At  the  end  of  a  year  he  gave  up  his  bank  job,  as  the  wholesalers,  dis- 
satisfied because  the  shipments  they  received  would  not  half  fill  their 
orders,  made  a  deal  to  take  all  the  plates  he  could  make.  The  attrac- 
tive feature  of  the  arrangement  for  Eastman  was  that  they  agreed  to 
take  a  minimum  amount  each  month,  including  the  dull  months  of 
winter,  and  pay  promptly. 

"Capital  was  not  overabundant  with  me  then,"  Mr.  Eastman  re- 
called. "I  regarded  the  arrangement  as  a  fine  one,  but  subsequently 
it  nearly  ruined  me." 

The  Eastman  factory  branched  out.  Henry  A.  Strong,  a  former 
boarder  with  Eastman's  mother  (and  now  vice-president  of  the  East- 
man Kodak  Company),  was  taken  in  as  a  partner  on  January  i,  i88i. 
The  force,  originally  consisting  of  one,  had  multiplied.  The  output 
rose  to  about  $4,000  worth  of  plates  a  month,  all  of  which  were  shipped 
to  the  wholesalers,  who  allowed  the  unsold  ones  to  accumulate  during 
the  winter. 

When  spring  came  complaints  began  to  pour  in  about  the  poor 
quality  of  the  Eastman  plates.  Every  day  brought  more  "kicks." 
The  firm  communicated  with  Eastman.  He  could  not  believe  any 
fault  could  be  found  with  them.  However,  conditions  became  so 
bad  that  he  hurried  to  New  York  and  on  testing  samples  from  the 
stock  discovered  that  they  had  lost  a  great  part  of  their  sensitiveness. 
Puzzled,  Eastman  put  on  his  thinking  cap.  Finally  he  noted  that 
the  older  the  plates  the  poorer  the  results — the  plates  had  simply 
been  piled  on  one  another  as  received,  the  newer  ones  consequently 
being  sold  first.  He  at  once  realized,  what  till  then  was  unknown, 
that  age  dulled  the  sensitiveness  of  the  solution. 


GEORGE  EASTMAN  87 

Eastman  unhesitatingly  agreed  to  take  back  every  unsold  plate. 
The  misfortune  almost  ruined  his  infant  industry,  but  he  was  deter- 
mined that  nothing  faulty  should  go  out  under  his  name.  By  in- 
creasing their  activities,  Eastman  and  his  co-workers  quickly  replaced 
the  supply  on  the  market  and  the  sun  of  prosperity  again  shone  on 
him. 

Then  the  bottom  fell  out  of  everything! 

Eastman  could  not  produce  a  single  good  plate.  Try  as  he  might, 
he  could  not  get  the  right  sensitiveness. 

Day  after  day  and  night  after  night  Eastman  studied  and  worked 
and  worried,  desperately  seeking  to  fathom  the  trouble.  He  had  not 
changed  his  formula  one  iota;  yet  it  would  no  longer  work.  He  tried 
everytliing  he  could  think  of,  but  all  in  vain.  He  had  lost  his  key  to 
success. 

His  factory  must  come  to  a  standstill.  There  was  no  use  manufac- 
turing plates  which  would  not  meet  requirements.  What  could  he 
do?     Must  he  close  up  and  seek  another  office  job? 

"Compared  with  what  I  then  went  through  all  the  subsequent 
troubles  of  my  life  have  been  as  nothing,"  Mr.  Eastman  recounted 
the  other  day.  But  adversity  could  not  master  him.  It  but  served 
to  draw  out  his  resourcefulness,  his  courage,  his  determination  and 
stick-to-itiveness. 

Suddenly  Eastman  disappeared.  One  week,  two  weeks,  three 
weeks,  four  weeks  passed.     Not  a  wheel  was  turning  in  the  factory. 

Then  one  day  Eastman  returned.  He  carried  in  his  head  and  in 
his  pocket  a  new  formula.  He  had  been  to  England.  He  had  gone 
to  Mawson  &  Swann,  of  Newcastle,  whose  plates  were  the  best  made 
in  England.  He  had  bought  their  formula  and  had  worked  two  weeks 
in  their  factory  to  make  sure  that  he  understood  every  phase  and  kink 
of  the  operation. 

Without  loss  of  an  hour  the  Eastman  plant  began  to  hum,  and 
although  the  plates  were  not  so  good  as  formerly,  they  were  better 
than  anything  else  manufactured  in  America,  and  as  good  as  the  best 
obtainable  abroad.  The  stoppage  of  the  factory  had  but  served  to 
increase  the  clamour  for  Eastman  goods,  and  everything  was  quickly 
driving  along  as  satisfactorily  as  before — except  that  Eastman's 
hair  had  turned  gray  over  the  inexplicable  loss  of  his  art. 

The  explanation?  Eastman,  who  would  not  rest  satisfied  until  he 
unearthed  the  cause,  found  that  he  had  been  using  from  the  very  start 
one  particular  batch  of  gelatine  for  one  delicate  process  in  the  making 
of  his  emulsion  and  that  it  had  given  out.  No  other  gelatine  he  could 
obtain  would  give  the  same  results — just  why  or  how  he  could  not 
analyze.  Every  other  consignment  he  tried  was  of  no  use;  it  would 
not  work  with  his  formula. 


88  MEN.  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

From  the  one  room  of  1879-80,  the  Eastman  factory  developed. 
They  had  moved  into  a  small  building  of  their  own  after  the  partner- 
ship with  Strong  was  formed  in  1881,  and  in  1882  it  had  to  be  doubled. 
The  making  of  dry  plates  was  recognized  as  a  very  profitable  business, 
but  so  many  concerns  were  attracted  to  the  field  that  prices  fell  and 
the  market  became  oversupplied.  By  1884  the  outlook  had  become 
cloudy. 

Instead  of  brooding,  Eastman  pondered  how  to  improve  matters. 
From  the  start  he  had  had  a  mania  for  improving  ever>'thing  handled. 
This  time  he  set  himself  the  problem  of  finding  a  substitute  for  glass. 
With  characteristic  foresight,  he  realized  that  the  greatest  future  in 
the  photographic  business  was  to  be  in  the  amateur  field.  If  he  could 
only  make  the  taking  of  photographs  simple  enough  there  would  be  no 
bounds  to  the  potential  demands. 

Securing  the  services  of  William  H.  Walker,  who  had  given  up  the 
dry-plate  business  because  of  its  apparently  poor  future,  Mr.  Eastman 
began  experimenting  with  film  photography.  The  problem  involved 
not  only  the  creation  of  a  satisfactory  film,  but  a  portable  contrivance 
to  hold  it.  Their  joint  efforts  to  coat  flexible  material  with  sensitive 
emulsion  proved  successful,  as  also  did  their  construction  of  a  holder 
for  the  roll  of  film.  Innumerable  technical  and  chemical  difficulties 
had  to  be  overcome,  but  sufficient  progress  was  made  to  justify  the 
incorporation,  in  October,  1884,  of  the  Eastman  Dry  Plate  and  Film 
Company,  which  later  bought  the  European  patents  from  Strong, 
Eastman,  and  Walker. 

It  was  in  April,  1885,  that  the  first  roll  holders  with  paper  film 
were  put  out  and  Mr.  Walker  was  despatched  to  England  to  open  a 
branch  there.  Their  roll  holder  with  negative  paper  was  a  real  com- 
mercial article,  the  only  workable  thing  of  its  kind,  although  the  idea 
of  a  roll  holder  had  been  patented  the  year  Mr.  Eastman  was  born. 

This  forward  step,  however,  did  not  satisfy  Eastman.  Why  not, 
instead  of  merely  selling  the  roll  holder  and  film  to  be  inserted  in 
existing  cameras,  invent  a  camera  that  could  be  sold  loaded  so  that 
the  novice  could  snap  pictures.''  This  was  the  origination  of  the  fa- 
mous Eastman  slogan;  "You  press  the  button^  we  do  the  rest." 

This  camera  was  called  the  Kodak.     It  was  born  in  June,  1888, 

"Why  did  you  choose  the  name  Kodak .f"'  I  asked  Mr.  Eastman. 
"What  does  it  mean?" 

"It  does  not  mean  anything,"  he  replied.  "We  wanted  a  good 
strong  word,  one  that  could  not  be  misspelt  or  mispronounced  and, 
most  important  of  all,  one  that  could  be  registered  as  a  trade-mark 
that  would  stand  all  attacks — we  had  had  serious  trouble  before  then 
through  infringements  and  imitations  of  our  product  and  the  names 
we  used." 


GEORGE  EASTMAN  89 

The  first  Kodaks  were  sold  with  a  roll  of  100  sealed  exposures 
and  cost  $25.  When  the  whole  100  had  been  used,  the  camera 
could  be  returned  to  Rochester  or  taken  to  a  dealer  who  forwarded 
it  to  headquarters.     The  film  had  to  be  taken  out  in  a  dark  room. 

The  Kodak  threw  photography  open  to  the  whole  world. 

Of  course,  the  Kodak  of  1888  was  not  the  Kodak  of  to-day.  One 
hundred  pictures  had  to  be  taken  and  developed  before  the  results 
could  be  seen.  The  paper  films  used  had  to  be  handled  by  experts, 
and  in  other  respects  they  were  not  quite  satisfactory. 

Mr.  Eastman  spent  much  brain-sweat  in  trying  to  discover  a  sub- 
stitute. He  described  minutely  his  ideas  to  a  clever  young  chemist 
who,  after  much  experimenting,  evolved  a  honey-like  substance,  a  solu- 
tion of  guncotton  and  wood  alcohol.  This  was  not  what  they  were 
after,  but  Mr.  Eastman  at  once  saw  that  this  substance  might  be 
worked  into  a  substitute  for  paper  and  into  a  transparent  film,  a  long- 
cherished  object.  Experimentation  revealed  that  the  best  way  to 
make  transparent  films  of  uniform  thickness  was  to  spread  a  thick 
solution  evenly  along  glass  tables,  and  apparatus  was  at  once  con- 
structed for  making  films  on  tables  100  feet  long.  The  film  strips 
could  then  be  cut  to  any  desired  length. 

From  Edison's  laboratories  came  an  inquiry  as  to  whether  it  was 
true  that  the  Eastman  Company  had  invented  a  transparent  film; 
if  so,  Mr.  Edison  wanted  some  immediately. 

This  film  made  the  motion  picture  possible.  Indeed,  when  Mr. 
Edison  tried  to  sustain  one  of  his  early  "movie"  machine  patents  the 
judge  declared  that  the  principal  part  of  the  invention  lay  in  the  film. 
Mr.  Edison  since  has  acknowledged  the  part  played  by  Eastman  in 
the  birth  of  moving  pictures. 

The  Eastman  Company  was  immediately  swamped  with  photo- 
graphic orders.  A  great  many  amateurs  had  dark  rooms  and  could 
thus  do  their  own  developing.  Different  sizes  of  Kodaks  were 
manufactured  to  hold  rolls  of  a  dozen  films.  Hundreds  of  additional 
workers  had  to  be  employed,  and  Kodak  Park,  since  become  famous 
throughout  the  world,  was  opened. 

How  to  overcome  the  necessity  of  having  a  dark  room  to  re-load 
the  camera  and  for  development  purposes  was  the  next  hurdle.  Mr. 
Eastman  got  up  a  special  line  of  cameras  which  employed  a  film  having 
black  paper  attached  to  the  roll  at  each  end.  This  permitted  of  day- 
light re-loading,  but  another  inventor,  Samuel  N.  Turner,  devised  the 
now-familiar  method  calling  for  a  window  on  the  back  of  the  camera 
and  black  paper  running  the  whole  length  of  the  film  with  a  number 
for  each  picture.  He  was  paid  $40,000  for  his  little  contrivance,  a  big 
sum  in  those  days — 1894. 

The  next  milestone  in  the  path  of  progress  was  the  invention  of 


90  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

the  developing  machine,  in  1902.  This  was  the  work  of  a  young  man, 
Arthur  W.  McCurdy,  then  private  secretary  to  Alexander  Graham 
Bell.  He  had  almost  given  up  in  despair,  after  many  months  of 
unfruitful  toil,  when  he  brought  his  contraption  to  Mr,  Eastman  and 
was  shown  how  it  was  unpractical.  The  idea  was  all  right,  but  there 
was  a  fatal  flaw  in  adopting  it  for  practical  purposes.  Mr.  Eastman 
explained  matters  to  him,  advised  him  to  continue  his  efforts  and  re- 
turn when  he  had  succeeded.  McCurdy  went  straight  to  the  Kodak 
experimental  room  and  within  twenty-four  hours  again  submitted 
his  achievement  to  Eastman.  From  that  day  to  this  he  has  not  needed 
to  do  another  stroke  of  work;  he  has  drawn  a  handsome  royalty  from 
the  Kodak  people  ever  since  and  is  now  in  retirement  in  Vancouver, 
B.C. 

A  non-curling  film  was  perfected  in  1904,  and  this  seemed  to  mark 
the  final  development  in  photographic  appliances. 

Nothing  further  of  importance  was  discovered  until  1914,  when  the 
Autographic  Kodak  was  announced.  When  its  inventor,  Henry  J. 
Gaisman, first  approachedMr.  Eastman, hisideas  were  not  practicable, 
but,  on  having  the  defects  pointed  out,  he  went  at  it  again;  turned 
down  once  more,  he  returned  time  after  time,  always  exuberantly 
enthusiastic,  and  finally  went  off  with  a  check  for  ^^300,000,  refusing 
to  have  anything  to  do  with  any  royalty  arrangement. 

The  growth  of  the  Eastman  Kodak  business  has  been  one  of  the 
commercial  wonders  of  the  world.  From  one  assistant,  Eastman's 
force  has  expanded  to  13,000,  not  including  over  10,000  dealers  deriv- 
ing the  whole  or  part  of  their  livelihood  from  handling  Eastman 
products.  Kodak  Park  Works  at  Rochester  comprise  ninety  build- 
ings, with  fifty-five  acres  of  floor  space,  including  one  building  740 
feet  long.  The  other  four  factories  also  are  located  in  Rochester,  the 
whole  employing  8,500  workers.  These  workers  represent  22  distinct 
industries  and  229  different  occupations,  as  classified  by  the  United 
States  Census! 

Before  George  Eastman  began  to  sleep  in  his  clothes  at  night  in  his 
one-room  shop,  America  imported  all  its  photographic  materials. 
Within  the  last  forty  years — -and  particularly  within  the  last  twenty 
— the  Eastman  Kodak  has  brought  a  stream  of  gold  from  every 
part  of  the  world  to  this  country,  filling  the  pay  envelopes  of  many 
thousands  of  workers  and  enriching  investors  fn  Eastman  securities. 
The  Kodak  rules  the  whole  camera  world,  a  tribute  to  American  in- 
ventive, scientific,  and  mechanical  genius,  but  more  particularly  a 
tribute  to  George  Eastman. 

The  innate  modesty  of  Eastman  has  kept  his  achievements  from 
being  more  generally  recognized.  Lord  Kelvin,  the  greatest  scientist 
of  the  last  generation,  regarded  Eastman  as  a  chemist  and  scientific 


GEORGE  EASTMAN  91 

inventor  of  unique  standing,  and  for  years  cooperated  with  him  as 
one  of  the  Eastman  Company  directors.  Eastman's  rise  over  innu- 
merable difficulties,  the  ever-increasing  demands  for  his  products, 
and  the  world-wide  reputation  of  everything  bearing  the  Eastman 
stamp  have  been  due  to  a  rare  combination  of  brains,  industry,  and 
ambition  to  provide  nothing  but  the  best,  no  matter  what  the  cost. 
Millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent  not  only  in  continuous  experiments 
to  improve  quality,  but  in  providing  experts  to  test  rigidly  every 
cent's  worth  of  material  leaving  the  plant.  "  Excelsior"  has  been  the 
motto  throughout. 

Like  most  other  notably  successful  American  enterprises,  it  became 
a  target  for  the  puny-brained  politicians  who  were  swept  off  their 
feet  by  the  "trust-busting"  madness.  To  be  big  was  a  crime.  For 
Americans  to  turn  out  a  product  better  than  anything  else  in  the 
world  and  to  build  up  an  organization  of  world-wide  ramifications 
was  accounted  a  criminal  offence.  When  Washington  announced 
that  the  Eastman  Kodak  was  to  be  attacked,  the  company  offered 
to  change  any  of  its  methods  not  satisfactory  to  the  Department  of 
Justice,  but  a  voluntary  adjustment  would  not  have  afforded  sufficient 
political  fireworks.  These  proceedings  are  still  dragging  along,  al- 
though events  abroad  and  at  home  have  thoroughly  chastened  the 
"trust-busting"  spirit  and  have  demonstrated  the  necessity  for  large 
business  units. 

Of  course,  the  Eastman  people  strove  with  all  their  might  to  become 
the  undisputed  leaders  in  their  industry.  Like  John  D.  Rockefeller 
in  oil,  James  B.  Duke  in  tobacco,  Theodore  N.  Vail  in  telephony  and 
other  giants,  Eastman  fought  competitors  tooth  and  nail  and  doubt- 
less employed  methods  not  in  harmony  with  the  resurrected  Sherman 
Law;  but  these  methods  were  common  and  accepted  as  perfectly 
legitimate  at  the  time,  even  by  successive  Attorney  Generals. 

George  Eastman  has  little  love  for  money  except  as  an  instrument 
for  accomplishing  worthy  aims.  He  has  always  lived  unostenta- 
tiously. Having  no  children  of  his  own — he  is  a  bachelor — he  has 
become  a  sort  of  father  of  his  city.  His  gifts  to  Rochester  have  in- 
cluded large  sums  to  the  University  of  Rochester  and  to  the  General 
Hospital,  while  other  benefactions  have  been  made  to  the  Hahnemann 
Hospital,  the  Homeopathic  Hospital,  the  Friendly  Home,  the  Chil- 
dren's Hospital,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  and  the  City  Park. 
He  is  providing  a  dental  dispensary  for  children  which  will  be  perhaps 
the  finest  in  the  country.  He  has  spent  both  time  and  money  in 
securing  good  civic  government,  one  of  his  steps  toward  that  end 
having  been  the  establishment  of  the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research. 
He  is  erecting  a  building  for  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  also 
took  a  leading  part  in  the  organization  of  the  Rochester  Art  Com- 


92  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

mission  and  has  personally  striven  to  adorn  the  city  and  its  puhlic 
buildings  and  parks.  His  love  of  art  is  equalled  only  by  his  fondness 
for  good  music,  in  the  cultivation  of  which  he  has  been  active,  his 
efforts  to  give  Rochester  a  superior  orchestra  having  been  only  one 
of  his  activities  in  this  direction. 

He  has  also  distributed  money  freely  outside  of  Rochester,  but 
usually  anonymously.  He  was  one  of  the  late  Booker  T.  Washington's 
ardent  supporters,  and  his  farm  in  North  Carolina  is  supplementing 
the  practical  training  of  Negroes  carried  on  at  Tuskegee. 

His  own  employees  have  been  Mr.  Eastman's  special  care.  Kodak 
Park  Works  is  an  example  of  how  attractive  a  large  plant  and  its 
environment  can  be  made.  Moreover,  he  has  enabled  hundreds  of 
the  older  employees  to  amass  a  competency  through  ownership  of 
Kodak  stock,  while  his  annual  distributions  to  all  classes  of  employees 
have  been  notable — the  latest  wage  dividend  approximated  5^900,000. 

Although  I  spent  hours  with  Mr.  Eastman  I  could  not  draw  from 
him  one  fact  about  his  benefactions.     All  he  would  admit  was: 

"I  have  believed  in  trying  to  do  some  little  things  as  I  have  gone 
along.  I  don't  believe  in  men  waiting  until  they  are  ready  to  die 
before  using  any  of  their  money  for  helpful  purposes." 

Incidentally,  Mr.  Eastman  was  one  of  the  largest  individual  sub- 
scribers to  the  Liberty  Loan. 

George  Eastman  is  an  excellent  specimen  of  the  type  of  "Men  Who 
Are  Making  America." 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON 

YOU  and  I  think  of  inventors  as  geniuses  who  suddenly  are  hit 
by  a  brilliant  idea  from  out  the  air  and  forthwith  patent  it  in 
workable  form.  We  picture  them  as  eccentric  fellows  who 
for  the  most  part  sit  around  waiting  for  a  stroke  of  inspiration. 

Edison  is  not  of  that  type.  He  angrily  resents  being  called  a 
genius  or  a  wizard  or  a  magician.  "Genius  is  one  per  cent,  inspiration 
and  99  per  cent,  perspiration,"  he  declares.  "The  three  great  essen- 
tials to  achieve  anything  worth  while  are,  first,  hard  work;  second, 
stick-to-itiveness;  third,  common  sense." 

Edison  is  acclaimed  as  the  world's  greatest  inventor.  After  he 
had  achieved  success  as  an  inventor  and  manufacturer,  he  deliberately 
dropped  everything  else  and  adopted  invention  for  his  profession  and 
life  work,  in  1876.  After  that  he  simply  had  to  make  good  or  become 
a  laughing-stock.     Edison  made  good. 

He  is  also  the  world's  greatest  experimenter.  He  tries  thousands 
and  thousands  of  ways — sometimes  fifty  thousand — to  do  a  thing,  and 
never  quits,  even  should  it  take  ten  years,  until  he  has  either  found  a 
way  or  proved  conclusively  that  it  cannot  be  done. 

Edison  has  worked  harder  and  slept  less  than  any  other  great  man 
in  history — he  once  worked  continuously,  without  a  moment's  sleep, 
for  five  days  and  nights,  while  perfecting  the  phonograph.  He  has 
conducted  more  experiments  than  any  other  human  being.  He  has 
taken  out  upward  of  100  patents  in  one  year  and  has  secured  a 
grand  total  of  over  1,000  patents,  a  record  unapproached  by  any 
other  individual  in  this  country  or  abroad. 

He  has  tasted  the  bitterest  defeats  and  lost  all  his  money  time  and 
again.  He  spent  five  solid  years  and  over  ^2,000,000  creating 
a  plan  and  a  plant  to  extract  ores  by  magnets  from  powdered  rock, 
only  to  find  that  the  discovery  of  unlimited  quantities  of  rich  Mesaba 
ore  rendered  his  whole  process  profitless  and  it  had  to  be  abandoned, 
leaving  him  grievously  in  debt,  but  unbroken  in  spirit.  Again, 
after  years  of  toil  on  his  electric  storage  battery,  he  began  its  manu- 
facture on  a  large  scale,  but  flaws  were  discovered  in  a  small  percentage 
of  the  output,  and  although  buyers  clamoured  for  more  shipments, 
he  refused  to  market  a  single  additional  battery  until  he  had  sweated 
and  studied  and  experimented  with  it  for  five  more  years,  when,  this 
time,  he  achieved  his  desired  goal. 

93 


94  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Difficulties  which  would  drive  normal  mortals  to  despair  only  light 
up  Edison's  enthusiasm  and  stimulate  his  determination  to  triumph. 
If  a  thing  won't  work  one  way,  he  tries  it  another  way — 5,000  other 
ways,  10,000  other  ways,  20,000  other  ways,  if  necessary.  He  has 
sent  botanists,  mineralogists,  chemists,  geologists,  and  others  into 
the  most  remote,  uncivilized  nooks  of  the  earth  in  search  of  some 
fibre  or  other  elusive  material  which  the  indefatigable  experimenter 
calculated  might  prove  the  missing  link  in  a  chain  of  experiments — one 
expert  circumscribed  the  globe  in  search  of  a  species  of  bamboo  which 
Edison  figured  might  supply  just  the  right  filament  for  his  in-thc- 
making  incandescent  lamp,  while  other  explorers  combed  the  fast- 
nesses of  South  America  for  a  fibre  which  might  still  better  serve  the 
purpose. 

With  Edison,  inventing  is  the  result  of  successful  experimenting  on 
definite  lines.  His  greatest  achievements  have  not  been  in  originating 
ideas  for  new  achievements,  but  in  carrj'ing  to  fruition  what  others 
have  dreamed  of  accomplishing  but  failed  to  attain.  Edison  is  a 
doer  rather  than  a  dreamer.  He,  too,  of  course,  has  dreamed,  but  his 
fame  rests  less  upon  his  dreams  than  upon  what  he  has  done. 

He  did  not  originate  the  telegraph  or  the  telephone;  he  was  not  the 
inventor  of  electric  lighting;  the  electric  railway  was  not  first  thought 
of  by  him;  others  had  made  moving  pictures — of  a  kind;  the  recording 
of  the  human  voice  for  reproduction  was  not  an  idea  born  in  his  brain; 
nor  was  he  the  first  to  think  of  storing  electric  energy  in  a  battery. 

But  without  Edison  the  world  would  not  be  enjoying  these  adjuncts 
of  progress  as  it  is  to-day.  His  has  been  the  master  mind,  his  the 
master  hand,  in  bringing  them  to  flower  and  fruition.  Where  others 
failed,  he  has  succeeded.  Where  others  brought  forth  only  ideas, 
he  has  created  actualities.  While  all  predecessors  and  contemporaries 
were  working  along  the  wrong  track,  Edison,  by  his  ceaseless  industry, 
his  matchless  insight  and  tuition,  his  unequalled  knowledge — gathered 
in  part  from  complete  familiarity  with  the  past  but  far  more  from  his 
infinite  investigations,  experiments,  and  experience — discovered  the 
right  track  and  pursued  it  relentlessly,  undaunted,  year  after  year,  if 
need  be  toiling  twenty  hours  a  day,  seven  days  a  week,  and  sacrificing 
in  the  cause  every  penny  of  his  fortune.  For  Edison  time  has  no 
meaning  when  he  is  striving  toward  a  goal;  if  the  end  takes  ten  days 
or  ten  months  or  ten  years,  what's  the  difference?  The  end  is  the 
thing. 

He  has  a  philosophy  of  failure  which  all  of  us  might  well  adopt. 
If  after  thousands  of  attempts,  the  expenditure  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars,  and  the  apparent  waste  of  precious  years,  he  has  only 
failure  for  his  reward,  he  does  not  complain,  he  does  not  feel  downcast. 
When  his  assistants  commiserate  with  him  and  themselves  on  the 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON  95 

futility  of  all  their  pains,  Edison  will  cheerfully  reprimand  them  thus: 
"Our  work  has  not  been  in  vain;  our  experiments  have  taught  us  a  lot. 
We  have  added  something  to  the  total  of  human  knowledge.  We 
have  demonstrated  that  it  cannot  be  done.  Isn't  that  something? 
Now  let's  take  up  the  next  thing." 

That  is  Edison.  Don't  waste  time  and  vitality  bemoaning  the  past 
when  the  present  and  the  future  are  calling  so  loudly  to  have  great 
and  small  things  accomplished.     Look  fonvard,  not  backward. 

Not  long  since  a  minister  asked  a  number  of  successful  men :  "What 
are  the  greatest  safeguards  against  temptation.?"  Edison  replied: 
"I  have  never  had  any  experience  in  such  matters.  I  have  never  had 
time,  not  even  five  minutes,  to  be  tempted  to  do  anything  against 
the  moral  law,  civil  law,  or  any  law  v/hatever.  If  I  were  to  hazard  a 
guess  as  to  what  young  people  should  do  to  avoid  temptation  it  would 
be  to  get  a  job  and  work  at  it  so  hard  that  temptation  would  not  exist 
for  them." 

Edison  literally  v/orks  day  and  night.  At  crucial  points  in  his  ca- 
reer, when  the  invention,  the  manufacture,  or  the  installation  of  some 
contrivance  has  demanded  every  ounce  of  his  energy  and  every  mo- 
ment of  his  time,  he  has  not  touched  a  bed  for  weeks  and  weeks,  con- 
tenting himself  with  lying  down  for  a  brief  spell  on  a  floor  with  a  book 
for  a  pillow,  or  curled  up  on  a  roll-top  desk,  or  stretched  on  a  pile  of 
metal  pipes.  Remonstrated  with  once  for  not  relaxing  his  labours  and 
devoting  some  part  of  his  life  to  recreation  and  amusement,  Edison 
replied,  not  so  very  long  ago: 

"I  already  have  a  schedule  worked  out.  From  now  until  I  am 
seventy-five  years  of  age,  I  expect  to  keep  more  or  less  busy  with  my 
regular  work,  not,  however,  working  as  many  hours  or  as  hard  as  I 
have  in  the  past.  At  seventy-five  I  expect  to  wear  loud  waistcoats 
with  fancy  buttons,  also  gaiter  tops;  at  eighty  I  expect  to  learn  how  to 
play  bridge  whist  and  talk  foolishly  to  the  ladies.  At  eighty-five  I 
expect  to  wear  a  full-dress  suit  every  evening  at  dinner,  and  at  ninety 
— well,  I  never  plan  more  than  thirty  years  ahead." 

Inventors  proverbially  are  eccentric.  Edison  is  not  an  exception. 
He  has  not  been  inside  a  tailor's  shop  or  had  a  tailor's  tape  applied  to 
him  in  a  quarter  of  a  century!  Some  time  before  the  close  of  the 
nineteenth  century  he  was  inveigled  into  allowing  a  tailor  to  measure 
him  for  a  suit  of  clothes  and  every  subsequent  suit  has  been  made 
from  what  he  calls  "that  jig  pattern!" 

He  is  likely  to  appear  at  his  laboratory  in  a  light  summer  suit  in 
the  middle  of  winter.  But  he  does  not  freeze  to  death,  as  Mrs.  Edison 
has  ingeniously  contrived  to  supply  him  with  three  or  four  layers  of 
underwear!  Edison  is  reported  to  have  received  a  foreign  dignitary, 
delegated  to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  present  Edison  with  a  signal 


96  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

honour,  almost  stripped  to  the  waist,  his  hands  and  face  smeared 
with  grime  and  grease — and  it  had  taken  supreme  diplomacy  and 
pressure  on  the  part  of  his  colleagues  to  persuade  him  to  receive  the 
visitor  at  all,  so  immersed  was  Edison  in  a  vital  experiment. 

Last  year  when  a  university  'conferred  upon  liim  the  honorary 
degree  of  LL.D.,  it  had  to  be  done  by  telephone — he  was  too  busy  to 
go  to  accept  the  honour.  One  of  the  greatest  universities  in  England 
announced  that  it  would  honour  Edison,  but  he  would  not  give  up 
his  work  long  enough  to  cross  the  ocean  for  the  ceremony,  and  the 
proffered  degree  was  withdrawn.  Once  he  received  a  greatly  prized 
gold  medal  in  New  York  and  mislaid  it  on  the  ferr>'-boat  on  his  way 
back  to  his  Jersey  home.  "I  have  a  couple  of  quarts  more  of  them 
at  home,"  he  commented. 

When  France,  at  the  Paris  Centennial  Exposition  in  1889,  made  him 
a  member  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  at  a  memorable  ceremony,  Edison 
balked  when  it  came  to  placing  the  sash  upon  him  and  positively 
refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it.  He  did  consent  to  wear  the 
coveted  little  button  in  the  apel  of  his  coat,  but  whenever  he  was  to 
meet  Americans  he  turned  down  the  lapel  so  that  they  couldn't  see 
the  button — "I  didn't  want  to  have  my  fellow-countr^-^men  think  I 
was  trying  to  show  off,"  was  his  explanation. 

Edison  often  begrudges  the  time  he  is  impressed  into  wasting  in 
receiving  visits  from  foreign  potentates  and  other  celebrities.  He  is 
of  the  common  people  and  his  heart  is  with  the  common  people. 
Perhaps  the  most  pleasing  tribute  he  ever  received  was  during  the 
great  Preparedness  Parade  in  New  York  in  May,  1916,  when  the  route 
of  the  procession  resounded  with  shouts  of  "Edison!  Edison!  Edi- 
son!" as  the  veteran  inventor  marched  at  the  head  of  his  colleagues 
on  the  United  States  Naval  Consulting  Board.  He  was  to  have 
dropped  from  the  ranks  at  a  certain  point,  but,  though  the  heat  was 
intense,  he  refused  to  fall  out.  "I  like  it  and  they  seem  to  be  liking 
me,"  was  his  ultimatum  to  those  who  sought  to  persuade  him  to  stop 
and  rest.  The  acclaim  of  his  fellow-citizens,  this  spontaneous,  en- 
thusiastic reception  mile  after  mile,  went  straight  to  his  heart.  The 
sincere  applause  of  the  multitude,  of  the  rank  and  file  of  his  own 
people,  were  more  gratifying  to  Edison  than  all  the  diplomas  and 
parchments  and  medals  in  the  world. 

Edison,  like  his  friend  Henry  Ford,  has  always  sought  to  produce 
things  that  would  benefit  the  masses.  Has  any  other  living  being 
added  so  much  to  the  comfort,  enjoyment,  enrichment  of  the  lives 
of  his  fellow  mortals? 

Edison  has  stretched  out  his  hand,  seized  hold  of  the  evanescent 
sounds  of  the  human  voice,  and  made  them  imperishable. 

Every  phase  of  the  panorama  of  human  life,  formerly  gone  from 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON  97 

sight  with  its  own  passing,  can  now  be  preserved  and  reproduced  for 
posterity  as  well  as  for  the  day-by-day  edification  or  amusement  of 
the  people  by  means  of  Edison's  invention  of  moving  pictures. 

That  the  human  voice  can  span  continents  and  bridge  oceans  is 
in  no  small  measure  due  to  Edison's  early  achievements  in  telephony. 

The  flooding  of  the  world  with  light  second  only  to  that  of  the  sun 
itself  is  another  of  Edison's  gifts  to  humanity. 

Edison  has  been  and  is  the  benefactor  of  the  common  people.  Not 
only  has  he  given  them,  for  a  nickel,  entertainments  previously  beyond 
their  reach;  not  only  has  he  brought  music  into  their  homes,  but  one 
of  his  consuming  ambitions  to-day  is  to  lighten  the  burden  and  the 
drudgery  of  every  housewife  in  the  land  through  the  invention  of 
simple,  inexpensive  devices  for  performing  many  domestic  tasks 
which  now  bear  heavily  upon  overworked  mothers  and  other  harassed 
domestic  workers.  If  he  lives  long  enough — and  he  is  come  of  an 
extraordinarily  long-lived  race — he  promises  to  achieve  as  much  in 
this  field  as  he  has  in  others. 

Milan,  Ohio,  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  birthplace  of  Edison. 
The  book  of  life  opened  for  him  on  February  11,  1847.  His  paternal 
ancestors  were  Dutch,  but  the  family  had  lived  in  America  for  several 
generations.  The  members  were  noted  for  their  longevity.  The 
family,  of  modest  circumstances,  moved  to  Gratiot,  Michigan,  when 
Thomas  Alva  was  seven.  There  the  elder  Edison  dabbled  in  farming, 
the  lumber  business,  and  the  grain  trade.  The  boy  had  such»an  ex- 
traordinarily shaped  head  that  the  doctor  predicted  brain  trouble! 
The  teacher  at  school  pronounced  little  Thomas,  who  was  always  at 
the  foot  of  the  class,  "addled,"  and  at  the  end  of  three  months  he  was 
given  up  as  too  stupid  to  receive  instruction.  That  was  all  the  regular 
schooling  Edison  ever  received,  his  instruction  thereafter  being  at- 
tended to  by  his  gifted  mother. 

He  did  some  queer  things.  When  six  he  was  missing  for  a  while 
and  was  found  sitting  on  goose  eggs  trying  to  hatch  them.  He  built 
a  fire  in  a  barn,  watched  it  go  up  in  flames  and  was  publicly  whipped 
in  the  village  square  as  a  warning  to  other  boys.  He  had  part  of  a 
finger  chopped  off,  was  nearly  drowned,  and,  becoming  interested  in 
chemistry,  when  about  ten  gorged  another  boy  with  seidlitz  powders, 
confident  that  the  gas  generated  would  cause  the  boy  to  fly!  That 
was,  apart  from  his  egg-hatching,  his  very  first  experiment.  Before 
he  was  eleven  he  had  gathered  together  a  fearful  and  wonderful  chemi- 
cal "laboratory"  in  the  basement  of  his  home,  and,  to  make  sure  that 
nobody  would  interfere  with  his  materials,  he  marked  every  one  of 
his  200  bottles  "  POISON." 

Then,  with  another  boy,  he  started  cultivating  ten  acres  of  his 
father's  farm  and  sold  as  much  as  $600  worth  of  produce  in  one  year. 


98  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

He  became  newsboy  on  the  train  running  between  Port  Huron  and 
Detroit,  started  two  small  stores  in  Port  Huron  in  charge  of  other 
youths,  met  with  no  great  success,  and  turned  to  extending  his  news 
vending  by  installing  newsboys  on  other  trains.  His  ambition  was 
equalled  only  by  his  industry,  as  is  shown  in  Dyer  and  Martin's 
excellent  "Life  of  Thomas  A.  Edison,"  from  which  these  early  facts 
are  drawn. 

He  started  a  laboratory  on  his  train,  using  part  of  the  unventilated 
smoking  car  which  was  never  used  by  passengers.  Next  he  installed 
a  printing  press  in  the  car  and  actually  collected,  wrote,  set  up  and 
printed  all  the  news  for  his  Weekly  Herald  and  sold  as  many  as 
400  copies  weekly,  a  feat  which  the  London  Times  described  as  notable 
in  that  this  was  the  first  newspaper  ever  printed  on  a  train  in  motion. 
His  ingenuity  manifested  itself  in  diverse  ways.  During  the  War 
between  the  States  he  bribed  railway  telegraph  operators  to  send 
bulletins  to  each  station  announcing  the  most  sensational  events  of 
the  day  with  the  result  that  when  "Newsy"  Edison  came  along  with 
his  papers  there  were  crowds  waiting  at  every  station  to  buy  them. 
On  special  occasions  he  charged  exorbitant  prices.  His  laboratory 
was  growing  steadily,  until  one  day  the  train  lurched  badly,  a  stick 
of  phosphorus  fell  on  the  floor  and  the  car  caught  fire.  The  enraged 
conductor  pitched  Edison  and  all  his  belongings  off  at  the  next  stop, 
boxing  Edison's  ears  hard  enough  to  cause  the  acute  deafness  from 
which  he  has  ever  since  suffered. 

A  printer's  devil  persuaded  Edison  to  join  him  in  changing  his 
publication's  name  to  Paul  Pry,  which  contained  so  pointed  person- 
al gossip  that  one  victim  threw  the  youthful  editor  into  the  river 
and  Paul  Pry  died  shortly  after.  Edison's  literary  abilities  had 
been  greatly  aided  by  his  extremely  zealous  reading  in  the  Detroit 
Library  during  the  long  period  he  spent  in  that  city  between  the  early 
arrival  and  the  late  departure  of  his  train.  His  method  was  to  tackle 
the  books  shelf  by  shelf  and  read  everything  indiscriminately. 

His  chemical  experiments  led  him  to  take  up  telegraphy  and  he 
and  a  chum  erected  a  wire  between  their  homes  and  enjoyed  talking 
over  it  nightly  until  a  stray  cow  pulled  the  wire  down.  Edison  having 
bravely  saved  the  life  of  the  local  station  agent's  child  by  snatching  it 
from  an  approaciiing  train — at  the  expense  of  numerous  cuts — the 
grateful  father  oflFered  to  teach  young  Edison  telegraphy.  For  six 
months  Edison  worked  eighteen  hours  daily.  He  became  proficient 
enough  to  build  a  line  a  mile  long  from  the  station  to  the  village  and 
was  appointed  telegraph  operator  at  Port  Huron.  As  he  used  to  leave 
messages  unsent  and  undelivered  while  he  conducted  experiments, 
his  services  were  dispensed  with. 

Edison*s  next  move,  in  1863,  was  eventful.     He  found  a  job  as 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON  99 

railroad  telegraph  operator  at  the  Grand  Trunk  Station  of  Stratford 
Junction,  Canada.  Here  also  his  experiments  landed  him  in  trouble. 
Night  operators  had  to  tap  the  word  "six"  every  hour  to  the  superin- 
tendent to  make  sure  they  had  not  gone  to  sleep.  Edison  promptly 
invented  a  contrivance  which  clicked  ofFthe  required  signal  every  hour 
so  that  he  could  enjoy  snoozes  in  comfort!  One  night  a  train  was 
allowed  to  pass,  and  as  another  train  was  coming  from  the  opposite 
direction  on  the  same  track,  Edison,  having  frantically  but  vainly 
tried  to  send  the  engine  driver  a  warning,  promptly  bolted  for  the 
border.  For  the  following  five  years  he  was  a  roaming  telegraph 
operator. 

Sometimes  he  almost  starved.  His  inventive  talent,  however, 
found  vent  every  now  and  again.  One  office  was  terribly  overrun 
with  rats  and  Edison  fitted  up  a  little  device  which  electrocuted 
them  by  the  score.  A  similar  invention  for  electrocuting  cockroaches 
at  another  office  was  written  up  in  the  newspapers  and  Edison  was 
immediately  dismissed.  A  more  ambitious  invention  during  this 
period  enabled  the  dots  and  dashes  to  be  recorded  on  strips  of  paper 
at  lower  speed  than  sent,  a  contrivance  which,  years  later,  led  Edison 
to  invent  the  phonograph. 

He  drifted  in  time  to  Boston  where  he  bought  Faraday's  complete 
works  and  applied  himself  with  intense  diligence  to  experimentation. 
His  first  patent  was  taken  out  on  June  i,  1869;  it  was  designed  to 
enable  Congress  to  record  and  count  votes  instantaneously,  through 
each  member  pressing  a  button  at  his  desk.  The  proud  inventor 
proceeded  to  Washington  expecting  to  be  received  with  open  arms, 
but  left  bitterly  disappointed,  having  been  peremptorily  told  that  the 
Inordinate  time  consumed  in  taking  a  vote  was  one  of  the  accepted 
methods  of  delaying  progress  and  harassing  opponents.  This  initial 
experience  determined  Edison  to  confine  his  efforts  ever  after  to 
things  for  which  there  would  be  a  keen  and  wide  demand. 

While  in  Boston  Edison  made  a  stock  ticker,  established  a  small 
stockquotation  business,  and  also  introduced  a  method  of  telegraphing 
between  business  concerns,  a  method  so  simple  that  anyone  could 
understand  and  work  it. 

How  great  a  contrast  was  there  between  Edison's  entry  into  New 
York  in  1869  and  his  reception  in  1916,  when  he  was  the  hero  of  the 
Preparedness  Parade! 

So  hard  up  was  he  on  leaving  Boston  that  he  had  to  let  his  books, 
instruments,  etc.,  remain  as  security  for  debts.  Arriving  by  boat  in 
New  York  he  had  not  a  cent  to  buy  food,  for  which  he  was  starving. 
Seeing  a  tea-taster  at  work,  Edison  begged  him  for  some  tea  and  this 
formed  his  first  breakfast  in  New  York. 

Three  days  later  Edison  was  sitting  in  the  offices  of  the  Gold  & 


loo  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Stock  Telegraph  Company  watching  the  gold  ticker  at  work — specu- 
lation in  gold  was  then  at  fever  pitch.  Suddenly  scores  of  boys 
rushed  into  the  place  excitedly  explaining  that  the  ticker  in  their 
employers'  offices  had  stopped  working.  Dr.  Laws,  head  of  the 
concern,  also  arrived  breathless.  The  apparatus  had  broken  down. 
Edison  calmly  told  Laws  that  he  thought  he  could  fix  it  and  proceeded 
to  do  so.  The  grateful  and  astonished  doctor  asked  the  stranger  his 
name,  and  next  day,  after  a  searching  quizzing-bee,  put  him  in 
charge  of  the  whole  business  at  a  salary  of  ^jco  a  month.  When  the 
hungry,  penniless,  out-of-work  operator  heard  the  amount  he  was  to 
receive  he  nearly  fainted. 

In  his  new  surroundings  Edison  found  vent  for  his  genius  in  im- 
proving the  ticker  and  bringing  out  many  allied  patents.  He  also 
at  the  same  time  formed  the  firm  of  "  Pope,  Edison  &  Company,  Elec- 
trical Engineers  and  General  Telegraphic  Agency,"  and  began  to  do 
important  work  for  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  W  hen 
the  head  of  the  Western  Union  asked  Edison  how  much  he  would 
consider  reasonable  for  a  certain  patent,  Edison  tried  to  summon  up 
enough  courage  to  ask  ^5,000,  but  the  sum  was  so  much  that  he  could 
not  bring  himself  to  name  it. 

"How  would  ^40,000  strike  you?"  he  was  asked. 

Edison,  being  very  hard  of  hearing,  could  not  believe  his  cars. 
He  received  a  check  for  5540,000  but  didn't  know  what  to  do  with  it. 
Finally,  he  went  to  the  bank  it  was  drawn  on,  laid  it  down  unen- 
dorsed, and  waited  to  see  what  would  happen.  He  suspected  that 
the  Western  Union  executive  was  playing  a  trick  on  him  and  that  the 
$40,000  offered  was  a  joke.  Of  course,  the  teller  would  not  cash  the 
check  because  he  did  not  know  Edison,  but  by  going  to  the  Western 
Union  office  he  got  a  clerk  to  return  to  the  bank  with  him  and  identify 
him.  The  teller  meanwhile  had  been  tipped  off  and  he  paid  over  the 
$40,000  in  small  bills,  the  whole  forming  a  big  parcel.  Edison  trun- 
dled home  with  it,  nervous  as  to  what  might  happen,  for  he  had  no 
safe.  Next  day,  however,  they  took  compassion  on  him  and  showed 
him  how  to  open  a  bank  account. 

With  this  capital  he  started  a  plant  of  his  own  in  Newark,  declaring 
he  did  not  like  the  idea  of  "keeping  money  in  solitary  confinement." 
He  was  soon  employing  fifty  men  making  stock  tickers  and  other 
instruments.  Business  prospered  to  such  an  extent  that  two  shifts 
were  employed.  Edison  acted  as  foreman  of  both,  working  night  and 
day  with  only  occasional  half-hours  for  sleep  in  out-of-the-way  corners 
of  the  shop.  Here  he  began  in  earnest  his  life  of  invention.  Among 
the  earliest  of  his  patents  was  an  automatic  telegraph  which  could 
send  and  receive  3,000  words  a  minute  and  record  them  in  Roman 
type.     He  also  took  hold  of  a  typewriting  machine  and  developed  it 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON  loi 

into  the  practical  Remington  now  of  universal  use.  In  1873  he  went 
to  England  to  introduce  his  automatic  telegraph  and  also  his  quadru- 
plex  telegraph  instrument,  which  had  cost  him  prolonged  study  and 
experiment.  The  mimeograph  was  another  important  achievement 
of  the  early  70's.  At  one  time  forty-five  different  inventions  were 
being  worked  on  in  Edison's  plants — by  this  time  he  had  five  shops 
going. 

His  early  "system"  of  bookkeeping  was  at  least  original,  but  it  did 
not  do  credit  to  his  inventive  powers.  All  bills  were  slapped  on  one 
spike  and  not  one  of  them  was  paid  until  legal  proceedings  had  been 
taken;  then,  when  the  order  for  payment  came  along,  Edison  paid 
the  bill  plus  the  legal  costs  and  transferred  the  bill  to  another  spike. 
Tax  assessments  were  treated  the  same  way,  but  on  one  occasion  it 
was  impressed  upon  him  that  if  he  did  not  pay  a  certain  tax  by  a 
specified  date  12  per  cent,  additional  would  be  levied,  involving 
quite  a  sum.  On  the  very  last  day  of  grace  Edison  took  up  his  station 
at  the  end  of  the  long  queue,  but  when  he  finally  got  to  the  tax  re- 
ceiver his  mind  was  so  full  of  other  matters  that  he  forgot  his  own 
name  and,  being  absolutely  unable  to  recall  it,  was  summarily  turned 
back  to  the  end  of  the  line,  with  the  result  that,  as  closing  time  came 
before  Edison  could  again  reach  the  desk,  he  had  to  pay  the  extra 
levy. 

For  his  famous  carbon  telephone  transmitter  Edison  was  offered  a 
lump  sum  of  $100,000  from  the  Western  Union,  then  in  a  death-grapple 
with  the  Bell  people.  Edison,  knowing  his  weakness  for  making 
money  go,  stipulated  that  the  sum  be  paid  him  at  the  rate  of  $6,000 
annually  for  seventeen  years,  an  arrangement  which  the  W.  U. 
jumped  at,  for  this  was  virtually  only  interest  on  the  money.  He 
repeated  this  extraordinarily  poor  business  arrangement  some  time 
later  when  the  Western  Union  offered  him  $100,000  for  his  electro- 
motograph.  The  Western  Union  did  not  lose  anything  by  these 
deals  with  Edison,  for  the  company  sold  out  to  the  Bell  interests  for  a 
big  figure,  including  a  substantial  royalty  on  the  use  of  certain  of  its 
patents.  English  interests  cabled  Edison  an  offer  of  "30,000"  for 
certain  of  his  apparatus  and  Edison  promptly  accepted,  well  pleased 
with  the  sum.  When  the  money  arrived  he  received  not  the  $30,000 
he  had  expected,  but  £30,000 — $150,000. 

One  of  his  most  notable  Inventions  worked  at  the  very  first  experi- 
ment. This  was  the  phonograph,  originated  in  1877,  and  the  machine 
to-daj'"  Is  one  of  the  precious  exhibits  In  theSouth  Kensington  Museum, 
London.  When  Edison's  workmen  heard  the  little  hand-turned 
cylinder  reproducing  the  human  voice  they  were  positively  incredu- 
lous; they  were  quite  sure  that  Edison,  always  fond  of  a  joke,  was  play- 
ing a  trick  upon  them,  that  ventriloquism  was  the  explanation.  It  was 


I02  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

not  until  they  had  examined  the  little  machine  microscopically  and 
made  sure  that  there  were  no  wires  connecting  it  with  any  other  contri- 
vance and  that  no  ventriloquist  was  near  hy  that  they  finally  accepted 
the  entrancing  truth  that  their  chief  had  scored  a  historic  bull's-eye 
at  the  very  first  shot. 

It  was  characteristic  of  Edison,  however,  that  he  spent  ten  years 
improving  It  before  he  exploited  It  commercially,  among  his  final  ses- 
sions on  it  being  one  of  five  days  and  nights  without  a  moment's  sleep. 

The  hardest  and  perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  Edison's  achievements 
was  begun  in  the  late  70's,  and  now  his  labours  In  this  field  are  yielding 
employment  to  hundreds  of  thousands  of  wage  earners  and  many 
hundreds  of  millions  of  capital.  I  refer,  of  course,  to  his  system  of 
generating,  regulating,  measuring,  and  distributing  electricity  for  light, 
heat,  and  power.  In  evolving  his  incandescent  lamp  Edison  ransacked 
the  earth  for  suitable  materials.  lie  tested  6,000  vegetable  growths, 
brought  from  all  parts  of  the  globe  in  his  search  for  an  ideal  substance 
for  use  as  a  filament  inside  the  glass  bulb.  At  first  a  piece  of  carbon- 
ized cotton  thread  was  used,  later  a  certain  kind  of  bamboo  yielded  a 
better  fibre,  but  finally  all  carbon  filaments  were  discarded  in  favour 
of  metallic  ones. 

The  Immensity  of  Edison's  task  in  inventing  and  establishing  the 
first  electric  lighting  plant  in  New  York,  at  Pearl  Street,  in  September, 
1882,  involving  not  only  the  construction  of  absolutely  new  forms  of 
machinery  and  apparatus,  but  in  laying  the  necessary  wires.  In  origi- 
nating methods  and  apparatus  for  regulating  and  sub-dlvlding  the 
current,  in  Inducing  people  to  agree  to  the  Installment  of  the  little- 
tested  Invention,  and  In  solving  a  thousand  problems  never  solved 
before — the  immensity  of  this  burden,  I  say,  cannot  be  grasped  at 
this  day  when  a  generation  of  experience  and  familiarity  with  electric 
lighting  has  led  us  to  accept  everything  pertaining  to  it  as  a  matter 
of  course.  At  the  end  of  18S2  only  225  buildings  In  New  York  had 
been  wired.  Including  the  offices  of  J.  P.  Morgan,  who  became  one  ot 
Edison's  admirers  and  supporters.  For  three  months  the  current 
was  supplied  free  to  those  brave  enough  to  allow  their  places  to  be 
threaded  with  the  mysterious  wires  which,  it  was  feared,  might  start 
fires  or  cause  explosions  at  any  moment. 

The  story  of  the  multiple-arc  system,  of  the  revolutionary  three- 
wire  system  which  saved  60  per  cent,  of  the  copper  formerly  used, 
the  introduction  of  central  stations  against  all  opposition  and  Ignor- 
ance, the  invention  of  a  meter  for  measuring  consumption  of  the  cur- 
rent— this  story  of  the  birth  of  a  new  era  in  human  progress  is  too 
full  of  incident  to  permit  its  being  even  outlined  here.  Suffice  It  to 
say  that  Thomas  A.  Edison's  accomplishments  in  this  field  stamped 
him  the  greatest  inventive  figure  of  the  age. 


THOMAS  A.  EDISON  103 

Electric  railway  experiments  next  arrested  Edison's  chief  attention, 
and  by  using  the  track  for  a  circuit,  he  achieved  wonderful  results. 
He  built  an  electric  line  at  Menlo  Park,  N.  J.,  in  1880  and  1882,  then 
his  headquarters,  and  it  attracted  railroad  builders  and  engineers 
from  all  parts  of  the  world;  but  somehow  they  were  not  so  quick  as 
Edison  to  grasp  the  possibilities  of  the  field  thus  opened  up. 

The  worst  financial  blow  Edison  received  was  the  abandonment  of 
his  extensive  plant  at  Edison,  N.  J.,  for  magnetic  ore  milling.  This 
was  "the  most  colossal  experiment  Edison  ever  made,"  his  associates 
record.  When  it  was  given  up,  chiefly  because  of  the  discovery  of 
unlimited  quantities  of  rich  ore  in  the  Mesaba  Range,  Edison's  whole 
fortune  had  gone  and  he  was  heavily  in  debt.  Some  of  his  associates 
were  broken  hearted.  But  Edison  was  undaunted.  "As  far  as  I 
am  personally  concerned,"  he  declared  philosophically,  "I  can  at  any 
time  get  a  job  at  ^75  per  month  as  a  telegraph  operator  and  that  will 
amply  take  care  of  all  my  personal  requirements" — a  touching  testi- 
mony of  the  simplicity  of  his  mode  of  life. 

There  followed  Edison's  epochal  inventions  for  the  manufacture  of 
cement — half  the  Portland  cement  produced  in  America  was  later 
made  in  Edison  kilns.  In  one  day,  of  almost  twenty-four  hours,  Edi- 
son personally  prepared  detailed  plans  for  his  first  cement  plant 
covering  a  length  of  half  a  mile,  a  feat  regarded  by  experts  as  the 
most  stupendous  ever  performed  by  a  human  brain  in  one  day. 
From  the  manufacture  of  cement  to  the  "pouring  of  cement  houses" 
was  a  logical  step — and,  incidentally,  Edison  believes  this  method 
of  construction  is  only  in  its  infancy. 

Of  late  years  the  electric  storage  battery,  wireless  apparatus,  the 
Edison-Sims  torpedo  and  other  submarine  problems,  improvements 
in  the  phonograph,  the  dictating  machine,  the  inventing  of  "speaking 
motion  pictures,"  and  household  labour-saving  devices  have  claimed 
most  of  the  master  inventor's  time  and  talent.  Naval  problems  have 
been  his  chief  concern  for  the  last  two  years,  and  just  at  present  "I 
am  working  day  and  night  for  my  Uncle  Sammy"  is  the  typical 
Edisonian  message  sent  me. 

President  Wilson,  in  paying  tribute  to  Edison  on  his  seventieth 
birthday,  wrote:  "He  seems  always  to  have  been  in  the  special  con- 
fidence of  Nature  herself."  If  he  is,  it  is  because  he  has  worked 
harder  and  more  intelligently  than  any  other  living  man  to  wring  her 
secrets  from  her.     His  success  has  been  paid  for. 

Notwithstanding  that  he  has  given  to  the  world  more  than  any 
man  of  his  generation,  Edison  has  not  received  a  corresponding  finan- 
cial reward.  He  is  not  a  multi-millionaire.  Nor  has  he  any  desire 
to  be  one.  He  eats  as  little  as  he  sleeps — just  enough,  he  says,  to 
keep  him  at  the  same  weight  (about  175  pounds)  year  after  year. 


104  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

His  attire  is  simple  and  unstudied  and  he  both  smokes  and  chews 
tobacco,  but  this  is  his  only  form  of  dissipation.  Until  latterly  he 
indulged  in  no  recreation  or  amusements  except  parchesi,  but  he  has 
now  taken  to  automobiling,  often  in  company  with  Mrs.  Edison  or 
one  of  his  children. 

"Edison  is  not  a  Christian  but  an  atheist,"  is  a  remark  sometimes 
heard.  Let  Edison  speak  for  himself  on  this  subject:  "After  years  of 
watching  the  progress  of  Nature  I  can  no  more  doubt  the  existence  of 
an  Intelligence  that  is  running  things  than  I  do  of  the  existence  of 
myself." 

Although  now  past  the  allotted  span  of  three  score  years  and  ten, 
Edison's  brain  has  not  lost  its  brilliancy  nor  his  right  hand  its  cun- 
ning.    It  is  not  yet  time  to  write  "Finis"  to  his  career. 

"Don't  you  feel  a  sense  of  regret  in  being  obliged  to  leave  so  many 
things  uncompleted.'"'  he  was  asked. 

"What's  the  use?"  he  replied.  "One  lifetime  is  too  short  and  I  am 
busy  every  day  improving  essential  parts  of  my  established  indus- 
tries. 

These  industries  give  employment  and  sustenance  to  an  appreciable 
percentage  of  his  fellowmen,  and  comfort,  convenience,  recreation, 
education  to  every  civilized  race,  enriching  the  lives  of  all  of  us. 


JAMES  A.  FARRELL 


JAMES  A.  FARRELL 

THE  president  of  the  largest  corporation  the  world  has  ever 
known  began  life  as  a  common  labourer. 
To-day  he  is  one  of  the  greatest  practical  industrial  execu- 
tives in  America. 

I  knownomanpossessingmoreknowledgeof  his  business — practical, 
theoretical,  detailed  and  general — than  James  A.  Farrell,  president  of 
the  United  States  Steel  Corporation.  He  carries  in  his  head  more 
steel  facts  than  any  other  human  being. 

Not  only  does  he  know  how  to  make  steel,  not  only  has  he  had  prac- 
tical training  in  every  phase  of  manufacturing  steel  products,  but  he 
has  done  more  than  any  other  person,  past  or  present,  to  send  Ameri- 
can merchandise  into  eveiy  corner  of  the  earth.  Before  others  began 
even  to  talk  about  the  vital  importance  of  outlets  for  American  prod- 
ucts, James  A.  Farrell,  working  literally  day  and  night  and  journey- 
ing hither  and  thither  across  the  seven  seas,  was  blazing  the  trail  for 
American  goods  and  actually  creating  markets  now  yielding  millions 
of  dollars  a  year  to  American  workmen  and  American  business 
enterprises.  He  is  known  as  "the  father  of  the  export  steel 
trade." 

Mr.  Farrell  holds  the  record  for  securing  foreign  orders  for  American 
goods.  He  is  the  greatest  international  salesman  America  has  ever 
produced. 

So  modest  is  he,  so  averse  is  he  to  talking  about  himself  or  his 
achievements,  that  he  was  unknown  to  the  American  public  until 
his  name  was  proclaimed  to  the  world  as  the  new  president  of  the 
Steel  Corporation  seven  years  ago.  "Who  is  Farrell.?"  the  people 
and  the  papers  asked.  Newspaper  "morgues"  were  ransacked  in 
vain  for  data  about  him.  So  were  "Who's  Who"  and  other  publica- 
tions chronicling  the  careers  of  notables. 

Even  now  James  A.  Farrell  is  imperfectly  known  to  all  but  those  in 
the  steel  industry.  Here  are  a  few  facts — and  they  are  facts — about 
him: 

When  a  boy  he  began  training  his  memory  and  he  has  disciplined 
it  so  thoroughly  throughout  his  life  that  he  admittedly  has  the  finest 
memory  of  any  business  man  in  the  country. 

Though  working  twelve  hours  a  day  as  a  labourer  in  a  wire  mill, 
he  studied  systematically  every  evening,  and  in  fourteen  months 

los 


io6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

became  a  mechanic,  rising  to  be  foreman  in  charge  of  the  300  men  in 
the  works  before  he  was  of  age. 

Having  made  several  voyages  with  his  seafaring  father  when  a 
schoolboy,  he  became  interested  in  foreign  lands  and  now  he  is  as 
familiar  with  every  foreign  country  as  he  is  with  Pittsburgh  or  New 
York.     He  has  been  called  "a  walking  gazetteer  of  the  world." 

His  knowledge  of  shipping,  of  steamship  lines  and  lanes,. of  how 
best  to  transport  merchandise  from  any  one  point  of  the  globe  to 
any  other  point  is  so  far  beyond  that  of  any  other  human  being  that 
he  has  won  the  nickname  "the  American  Lloyd's  Register.'*  In 
peace  times  he  could  tell  the  location  any  day  of  hundreds  of  vessels 
plying  all  over  the  seven  seas. 

Twenty  years  before  the  average  American  realized  the  importance 
of  foreign  outlets  for  domestic  products,  Mr.  Farrell,  in  face  of  ob- 
stacles which  would  have  driven  others  to  despair,  inaugurated, 
singlehanded,  a  campaign  for  the  conquest  of  overseas  markets  for 
American  steel  products  and  built  up  an  export  business  before  the 
war  of  almost  $100,000,000  a  year,  a  record  not  approached  by  any 
other  individual.  Since  then  the  annual  total  has  been  far  more 
than  doubled. 

As  the  first  president  of  the  Foreign  Trade  Council,  he  rendered 
invaluable  service  to  American  manufacturers  in  aiding  them  to 
overcome  obstacles  in  entering  foreign  markets. 

In  nine  days'  examination  during  the  Government's  suit  against 
the  Steel  Corporation,  Mr.  Farrell  astounded  everybody  by  answering 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  questions  of  every  conceivable  variety 
without  having  to  refer  to  a  single  scrap  of  paper.  The  replies  in 
many  cases  called  for  the  recital  of  average,  maximum,  minimum,  and 
percentage  figures  involving  decimal  points,  yet  the  witness  recited 
them  from  memory  as  easily  as  if  he  had  records  in  front  of  his  eyes. 

He  can  enter  the  mills  and  mines  of  the  company  and  greet  hun- 
dreds of  co-workers  by  their  first  names  even  though,  as  occasionally 
happens,  he  runs  across  a  workman  he  may  not  have  met  since  the 
days  when  they  sat  together  as  common  labourers  or  artisans  on  the 
cinder  pile. 

His  associates  declare  that  he  has  the  uncanny  faculty  of  being  able 
to  do  two  things  at  once;  for  example,  he  can  listen  to  and  digest 
everything  said  to  him  by  a  caller  and  at  the  same  time  read  and 
absorb  everything  in  a  letter  or  report  submitted  to  him  for  considera- 
tion and  decision. 

He  has  read  every  important  book  published  on  the  iron  industry 
and  every  worth-while  volume  on  the  history  and  conditions  of  other 
countries,  his  library  on  these  subjects  being  second  to  that  of  no  other 
individual.     When  electricity  promised  to  become  a  factor  in  manu- 


JAMES  A.  FARRELL  107 

facturing  and  transportation  he  paid  $1,500  for  a  complete  library  of 
books  on  electricity. 

With  all  his  amazing  knowledge,  his  unique  standing  in  his  field  and 
his  power  as  president  of  an  organization  employing  280,000  men, 
James  A.  Farrell  is  still  "Jim"  Farrell,  as  democratic  as  when  he  first 
answered  the  whistle  of  the  wire  mill,  and  as  hard  a  worker. 

A  scene  incongruous  in  these  supposedly  hard,  materialistic  days 
of  rushing  business,  unceasing  pressure,  and  lack  of  sentiment,  was 
witnessed  in  a  busy  skyscraper  in  downtown  New  York  six  years  ago. 

Several  hundred  men  and  women  waylaid  one  of  their  number  to 
present  him  with  a  loving  cup.  He  had  received  signal  promotion, 
and  they  pressed  around  him  to  offer  congratulations  and  bid  him 
God-speed.  They  were  quite  happy  until  the  presentation  speech 
was  made,  when  it  dawned  upon  them  that  they  were  saying  farewell 
and  that  they  were  to  lose  their  colleague. 

A  sob  was  heard — from  a  stenographer  or  a  telephone  girl.  In  two 
minutes  there  was  hardly  a  dry  eye  in  the  whole  house.  Enough  tears 
were  shed  to  fill  the  loving  cup. 

The  employees  were  those  of  the  United  States  Steel  Products 
Company  and  the  man  was  their  chief,  James  A.  Farrell,  who  had 
been  promoted  from  the  presidency  of  that  subsidiary  to  the  presi- 
dency of  the  billion-dollar  parent  company. 

When  Mr.  Farrell  was  sitting  day  after  day  on  the  witness  stand 
during  the  Government's  investigation  of  the  company,  newspaper 
writers  described  him  as  a  machine  rather  than  a  man,  as  carrying  on 
his  shoulders,  not  a  human  head,  but  a  Pandora's  box  filled  with 
every  conceivable  variety  of  figures  and  knowledge,  as  wearing  an  ex- 
pression as  immobile  as  the  Sphinx,  and  as  talking  without  apparently 
moving  his  lips — a  statue  rather  than  a  mortal.  They  portrayed  him 
as  all  head. 

The  truth  is  that  James  A.  Farrell's  heart  is  larger  than  his  head. 
But  he  doesn't  wear  it  on  his  sleeve.  He  hasn't  the  conquering  smile 
of  Charles  M.  Schwab,  one  of  his  predecessors.  He  is  not  given  to 
making  an  ostentatious  fuss  when  meeting  or  welcoming  anyone.  He 
affects  none  of  society's  artificial  "gush." 

An  intimate  analysis  reveals  James  A.  Farrell  as  a  man  of  intense 
sympathy — he  is  what  his  Spanish  friends  call  "simpatico"  in  an  un- 
usual degree.  He  understands  human  nature  as  well  as  he  under- 
stands iron.  Interested  as  he  has  been  beyond  almost  any  other  man 
in  developing  America's  steel  industry,  he  has  been  still  more  interested 
in  the  human  beings  who  sweat  and  toil  to  produce  the  steel.  His 
ceaseless  efforts  to  find  foreign  markets  have  not  prevented  him  from 
striving  incessantly  to  improve  the  conditions  of  American  workmen 
— indeed,  the  revolution  which  has  taken  place  in  conditions  at  steel 


io8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

plants  since  Mr,  Farrell  first  entered  the  wire  mill  as  a  boy  has  been 
due  in  no  slight  measure  to  his  efforts. 

Perhaps,  too,  an  inherited  sense  of  Irish  humour  has  had  something 
to  do  with  enabling  him  successfully  to  meet  difficulties  and  men  at 
home  and  abroad.  Even  the  responsibilities  that  press  upon  the 
president  of  a  concern  doing  a  billion  dollars'  worth  of  business 
a  year  have  not  crushed  the  love  of  fun — nor  the  boyishness  of  heart 
— from  "Jim"  Farrell.  When  off  duty — particularly  when,  clad  in 
oilskins  and  high  boots,  he  skippers  his  sailboat — he  enjoys  playing 
pranks  with  his  family  or  friends. 

But  let  us  go  back  and  trace  Mr.  Farrell's  career  from  the  beginning. 

At  school  in  New  Haven,  Conn.,  where  he  was  born  on  February 
l6,  1863,  James  A.  Farrell  developed  a  keen  interest  in  geography. 
He  learned  to  draw  maps  from  memory  and  to  fill  in  correctly  the 
principal  cities,  seaports,  rivers,  etc.  He  took  pains  to  remember 
what  he  learned  and  his  naturally  good  memory  developed.  The 
Farrells  had  been  seafaring  people  for  several  generations,  and  when 
James  was  a  mere  lad  his  father  took  him  on  several  voyages. 
Foreign  sights  still  further  stimulated  the  lad's  interest  in  geography. 

One  day  the  elder  Farrell's  ship,  of  which  he  was  both  owner  and 
captain,  sailed  away  from  New  York  and  was  heard  of  no  more. 

With  the  vanishing  of  the  vessel  vanished  the  son's  dreams  of  a  col- 
lege education.  Instead  of  entering  a  university  he  entered  a  wire 
mill  as  a  labourer.  Although  only  fifteen  and  a  half,  his  sturdy  phys- 
ique and  excellent  health,  which  have  never  failed  him,  enabled  him 
to  perform  the  duties  of  a  man.  Twelve  hours'  manual  toil  every  day 
did  not  dampen  his  ardour  for  study.  Returning  from  the  works  after 
a  full  round  of  the  clock  he  applied  himself  diligently  to  his  books. 
As  a  little  boy  he  had  a  fondness  for  swapping  things  and  for  other 
juvenile  business  transactions  and  he  now  had  ambition  to  become  a 
salesman. 

While  performing  the  tasks  of  a  common  labourer  he  had  kept  his 
eyes  open  and  had  used  his  scanty  opportunities  to  such  purpose  that 
in  fourteen  months  he  was  promoted  to  the  position  of  a  mechanic. 
In  this  capacity  he  learned  how  to  draw  all  kinds  of  wire,  from  the 
thickness  of  a  human  hair  to  a  hawser  strong  enough  to  pull  a  ship. 
Before  he  was  twenty  he  left  the  New  Haven  Wire  Mill  and  went  to 
the  Pittsburgh  Oliver  Wire  Company  as  an  expert  wire  drawer.  By 
the  time  he  cast  his  first  vote  he  was  foreman  over  all  the  300  men  in 
the  mill. 

All  this  time,  however,  he  was  daily  and  nightly  striving  to  fit  him- 
self to  become  a  salesman.  In  addition  to  having  learned  every  trick 
of  the  wire-drawing  trade  he  had  assiduously  sought  to  learn  other 
branches  of  the  iron  and  steel  industry  and  had  also  improved  his 


■JAMES  A.  FARRELL  109 

general  education  by  systematic  study.  When  twenty-three  he  at- 
tained his  object:  his  company  appointed  him  salesman  with  the  whole 
of  the  United  States  as  his  territory. 

Of  course  he  succeeded — succeeded  so  well  that  the  important 
Pittsburgh  Wire  Company  of  Braddock,  Pa.,  made  him  its  sales 
manager  three  years  later.  His  office  headquarters  were  in  New  York 
and  this  enabled  him  to  rub  shoulders  with  many  influential  steel  men 
and  also  served  to  broaden  his  training  and  his  outlook. 

Here  again  he  made  his  mark,  and  when  only  thirty  he  was  pro- 
moted to  be  general  manager  of  the  whole  organization. 

"The  explanation  of  Farrell's  success  as  a  salesman,"  one  of  his 
intimates  impressed  upon  me,  "is  that  he  knew  the  business  so  thor- 
oughly from  the  ore  up  that  he  could  not  only  talk  intelligently  about 
his  wares,  but  often  he  could  give  buyers  sound  advice  as  to  the  kind 
of  material  that  would  best  suit  their  purpose.  He  did  not  build  up 
his  business  by  the  methods  then  too  often  in  vogue.  He  did  not 
take  buyers  to  saloons  or  clubs  and  sign  contracts  over  booze.  He  is 
a  teetotaler.  He  was  not  even  a  'good  mixer.'  It  was  not  glib  talk 
that  won  him  customers,  but  something  more  solid.  He  was  a 
delightful  companion — his  Irish  wit  was  always  on  tap — and  serious- 
minded  people  found  him  an  excellent  conversationalist  because  he 
was  so  well  read.  Farrell  was  really  a  salesman  plus;  he  knew  more 
about  goods  than  nine-tenths  of  the  men  he  did  business  with.  And 
he  had  a  reputation  for  being  straight.  You  could  depend  upon  *Jim' 
Farrell's  word." 

Unlike  many  Americans,  Mr.  Farrell's  vision  was  not  confined  to 
the  country's  geographical  boundaries.  As  a  schoolboy  and  as 
a  barefoot  lad  scampering  about  the  decks  of  his  father's  ship  he  had 
learned  that  a  large  part  of  the  world  lay  beyond  the  Atlantic  and  the 
Pacific  coasts  and  south  of  the  Rio  Grande.  His  selection  as  general 
manager  of  the  Pittsburgh  Wire  Company  came  in  1893,  the  panic 
year.  The  steel  business  was  prostrated.  Farrell's  first  year  as 
manager  threatened  to  prove  a  bad  one.  Nobody  would  buy  sub- 
stantial amounts  of  anything.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  Most  business 
men  resigned  themselves  to  conditions  on  the  theory,  "We  must  wait 
until  the  storm  passes  and  things  come  our  way  again." 

Farrell  didn't  wait  for  orders  to  come  his  way.  He  went  after  them. 
And  here  the  knowledge  he  had  absorbed  came  to  his  aid.  He  had 
studied  foreign  countries  exhaustively  and  knew  a  great  deal  about 
their  internal  conditions,  principal  industries,  steel  requirements,  and 
tariffs. 

Forthwith  he  invaded  the  foreign  field  with  might  and  main.  By 
December  31st  he  had  sold  one-half  of  the  plant's  product  abroad! 
This  feat  became  the  talk  of  the  steel  trade. 


no  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

For  three  years  Mr.  Farrell  lived  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  mill 
at  Braddock.  Many  a  time  he  was  called  out  of  bed  at  niftht  to 
straighten  out  some  unexpected  tangle.  He  nursed  the  mill  with  the 
fidelity  of  a  mother  to  her  child.  Naturally  it  grew.  Although  no 
additional  capital  was  put  into  it,  its  value  trebled  during  Farrell's 
six  years'  managership. 

Control  having  been  purchased,  in  1899,  by  John  W.  Gates  and 
others  who  formed  the  American  Steel  &  Wire  Company  of  New 
Jersey,  the  position  of  foreign  sales  agent  of  the  merger  was  offered 
Mr.  Farrell.  When,  in  1901,  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation 
was  organized,  with  the  American  Steel  &  Wire  Company  as  one  of  its 
principal  subsidiaries,  Mr.  Farrell  was  unanimously  chosen  as  the  best 
man  to  develop  the  foreign  end  of  the  giant's  operations.  The  choice 
of  Mr.  Farrell  for  this  difficult  position  was  inevitable,  so  completely 
had  he  outdistanced  all  others  as  a  master  of  foreign  business. 

In  order  to  coordinate  the  overseas  activities  of  all  the  subsidiaries, 
the  United  States  Steel  Products  Company  was  incorporated  in  1903, 
and  Mr.  Farrell  became  its  president.  His  work  here  formed  a  nota- 
ble page  in  the  history  of  our  foreign  trade. 

In  the  first  year,  1904,  sales  of  the  Steel  Corporation  and  of  its 
subsidiaries  to  foreign  countries  totalled  ^^3 1,000,000;  by  1912  the 
figure  had  exceeded  $90,000,000,  while  the  1916  aggregate  exceeded 
$200,000,000.  The  cost  of  doing  this  foreign  business  when  Mr. 
Farrell  took  hold  ranged  from  7  to  11  per  cent.;  it  is  now  well 
under  one  per  cent,  and  he  hopes  to  cut  it  down  to  one-half  of  one  per 
cent.  The  whole  world  has  been  dotted  with  agencies,  some  260 
having  been  established  in  more  than  60  countries.  Finding  steam- 
ship service  inadequate,  Mr.  P'arrell  induced  the  corporation  to  acquire 
a  fleet  of  its  own  and  to  charter  additional  vessels;  now  it  owns  or 
has  under  long-term  charter  30  to  40  ships.  Its  exports  of  over 
2,500,000  tons  a  year  usually  load  about  three  steamers  every  two 
days.  Steel  Corporation  steamers  penetrate  far-olF places  not  touched 
by  other  vessels  and  carry  goods  of  other  shippers,  including  competi- 
tors, to  such  places. 

The  products  handled  include  everything  in  iron  and  steel  from 
special  nails  for  China  to  bridges  for  Iceland,  wire  for  the  Holy  Land 
and  skyscrapers  for  South  America. 

Only  those  who  have  tried  to  penetrate  new  markets  can  under- 
stand the  labour,.the  skill,  the  patience,  that  the  creation  of  such  an 
organization  demanded.  Without  his  phenomenal  knowledge  of 
international  transportation,  Mr.  Farrell  never  could  have  opened  up 
so  many  new  trade  lanes — the  active  head  of  the  Cunard  Line  once 
described  Mr.  Farrell  as  "A  good  shipowner  spoiled  by  being  in  an- 
other industry."    Nor  could  he  have  attained  such  results  had  he 


JAMES  A.  FARRELL  in 

J 
not  trained  for  just  such  a  position  during  previous  years,  for  his 
comprehensive  study,  combined  with  his  amazing  memory,  enabled 
him  to  compute  such  intricate  matters  as  foreign  customs  duties,  the 
rail  and  water  transportation,  facilities  of  other  countries,  and  the  de- 
gree of  competition  to  be  encountered,  all  without  having  constantly 
to  consult  printed  records  or  continually  to  cable  abroad  for  informa- 
tion. 

"Mr.  Farrell  did  the  work  of  four  men,"  declared  E.  P.  Thomas, 
then  one  of  Mr,  Farrell's  co-workers  and  later  his  successor  as  presi- 
dent of  the  Steel  Products  Company.  "He  seemed  to  know  every- 
thing and  could  remember  everything.  He  had  a  tremendous  ca- 
pacity for  work;  after  putting  in  a  full  day  here  at  the  office  he  would 
take  home  bundles  of  business  papers,  and  'clean  up,'  as  he  called  it, 
at  night.  He  often  worked  fourteen  hours  a  day.  We  received  sev- 
eral hundreds  of  cables  and  letters  every  day  and  the  way  he  contrived 
to  digest  all  important  m.atters  in  this  mass  of  material  and  answer 
personally  a  great  part  of  it  was  astounding. 

*' Of  course,  we  all  pitched  in  and  helped  all  we  could,  for  there  never 
was  a  man  of  greater  personal  magnetism.  Every  employee  regarded 
him  as  a  sort  of  father  and  counsellor,  who  could  be  depended  upon 
for  guidance  and  sympathy  in  domestic  or  other  trouble." 

When  the  presidency  of  the  Steel  Corporation  became  vacant  there 
was  little  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  ideal  man  for  the  job.  James 
A.  Farrell  towered  above  any  other  figure.  He  knew  every  detail  of 
the  mining,  transportation,  and  transmuting  of  ore  into  iron  and  steel, 
of  manufacturing  all  classes  of  products,  of  how  to  sell  at  home  and, 
not  least  in  importance,  of  how  to  cover  the  whole  earth  with  Ameri- 
can steel  manufactures — for  that,  of  course,  is  the  goal  of  the  greatest 
industrial  organization  ever  created  by  the  human  brain. 

"Jim"  Farrell  had  one  other  qualification.  He  knew  how  to  inspire 
workmen  and  win  their  loyalty.  For  example,  he  was  inspecting  a 
mine  when  the  superintendent  cautioned  him  not  to  enter  a  certain 
heading  because  it  was  dangerous  owing  to  falling  slate.  "Aren't 
there  men  working  in  there?"  asked  Mr.  Farrell.  "Yes,"  he  was  told. 
"Very  well,"  replied  Mr.  Farrell,  "if  it  is  right  for  the  men  to  be  there 
it  is  all  right  for  me  to  go  in."  And  in  he  went.  The  incident  spread 
all  over  the  mine  and  a  reporter  wrote  a  "story"  about  it.  When  it 
was  widely  reprinted  and  commented  upon,  Mr.  Farrell  was  aston- 
ished, for  he  did  not  consider  his  action  as  having  been  anything  out 
of  the  ordinary.  But  among  miners,  steel  workers,  and  other  em- 
ployees it  stam.ped  him  as  unspoiled  by  success.  They  felt  that  he 
still  regarded  himself  as  simply  one  of  them. 

Just  after  his  election  to  the  Steel  Corporation  presidency  a  friend 
invited  Mr.  Farrell  to  join  a  theatre  party.     When  they  arrived  Mr. 


112  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Farrell  absolutely  refused  to  sit  in  a  prominent  position  in  the  box. 
His  picture  had  been  appearing  in  publications  throughout  the  coun- 
try and  he  feared  he  might  be  recognized  by  some  of  the  audience  and 
perhaps  stared  at,  not  to  say  talked  about,  as  pushing  himself  into  the 
limelight! 

When  not  working,  which  is  not  often,  his  favourite  recreation  is 
handling  his  boat,  with  members  of  his  family  and  perhaps  a  few 
friends  on  board.  His  charities,  of  which  nothing  is  ever  heard,  run 
chiefly  to  children's  homes  and  hospitals. 

When  I  asked  Mr.  Farrell  what  his  life's  experience  had  taught  him, 
what  he  could  pass  on  to  the  myriads  of  young  men  ambitious  to 
succeed,  he  cited  these  as  some  of  the  essentials — in  addition,  of  course, 
to  honesty,  integrity,  and  other  to-be-taken-for-granted  qualities:^ 

"Application.  If  a  task  is  to  be  done,  do  it  no  matter  how  unim- 
portant it  may  seem. 

"Concentration  and  Specialization  on  definite  lines  of  work. 

"Cultivation  of  a  good  memory  and  a  practical  imagination,  with 
ability  to  analyze  conditions  and  evolve  new  plans  and  methods — 
that  is,  originality." 

Pressed  to  explain  how  to  develop  a  strong  memory,  Mr.  Farrell, 
in  an  interview  with  him  published  in  the  American  Magazine,  replied, 
in  part: 

"To  cultivate  a  good  memory  at  first  requires  effort — great  effort. 
In  time  it  becomes  easy  and  natural  to  remember  things.  To  retain 
things  in  your  mind  becomes  a  habit. 

"Conan  Doyle,  in  his  writings,  propounded  the  right  idea.  You 
must  concentrate.  You  must  not  carry  any  useless  mental  baggage. 
You  must  concentrate  on  the  things  in  which  you  are  interested  and 
expunge  from  your  memory  everything  you  are  not  interested  in. 
There  must  be  not  only  a  spring  cleaning  but  a  daily  cleaning  of  your 
memory,  so  to  speak,  in  order  to  make  room  for  fresh  stores  of  helpful 
information. 

"James  J.  Hill,  who  had  perhaps  one  of  the  most  remarkable  mem- 
ories of  any  man  in  the  country,  used  to  say  that  it  is  easy  to  remember 
things  in  which  one  is  interested.  Any  one  wishing  to  acquire  com- 
prehensive knowledge  of  his  business,  or  of  any  specific  subject,  must 
not  try  to  store  his  mind  with  endless  details  about  other  things. 
For  example,  I  have  tried  to  learn  all  I  could  about  the  steel  business 
in  its  mining,  manufacturing,  selling  and  transportation  branches; 
but,  to  enable  me  to  carry  business  information  in  my  head,  I  have 
not  attempted  to  retain  in  my  mind  minute  detailed  data  about 
politics  or  baseball. 

"Absorb  what  to  you  is  essential — that  is,  everything  pertaining 
to  your  field  of  endeavour.     Abolish  from  your  mind  non-essential, 


JAMES  A.  FARRELL  L13 

extraneous  subjects.  No  human  brain  has  cells  enough  to  store  up 
all  the  facts  about  all  subjects  under  the  sun.  Don't  clog  your  brain 
cells  with  impedimenta.  Feed  them  only  with  vital  material,  with 
things  that  will  enhance  your  usefulness  in  your  sphere  of  activity  by 
increasing  and  improving  your  stock  of  needful  information." 

"How  can  a  young  man  start  in  to  improve  his  memory.?"  I  asked. 

"The  best  foundation  on  which  to  build  a  strong  memory  is  to 
cultivate  a  capacity  for  work.  Good  habits  also  contribute  to  a  good 
memory;  careless  habits  tend  to  distract  and  spoil  the  memory.  A 
clear  head  is  necessary  to  a  keen  memory. 

"It  is  essentially  true  of  the  mind  that  it  grows  on  what  it  feeds. 
Youth  is  the  time  when  the  mind  and  memory  are  most  sensitive, 
most  retentive,  and  most  plastic.  It  is  especially  important,  there- 
fore, to  begin  the  proper  training  of  the  miind  at  an  early  age.  It  is  as 
difficult  to  dislodge  cumbersome,  useless  things  from  the  mind  as  it  is 
to  acquire  new  and  better  supplies  of  knowledge.  What  was  done 
badly  has  to  be  undone — often  at  considerable  cost.  As  with  most 
worth-while  things  in  this  world,  a  good  memory  calls  for  the  paying 
of  a  price.  Any  youth  or  man  who  desires  to  train  his  memory  must 
be  prepared  to  pay  the  cost.  He  must  be  prepared  to  forego  an  endless 
round  of  even  harmless  pleasures.  He  must  not  hope  to  shine  con- 
tinually and  conspicuously  in  social  or  society  circles  during  his  forma- 
tive years.  He  must  study  while  others  play.  His  reading  must  be 
limited  very  largely  to  books  and  magazines  and  papers  which  will 
help  him  to  acquire  facts  and  a  better  understanding  of  whatever 
business  or  subject  he  is  determined  to  master.  He  must  utilize 
most  of  his  spare  time  and  not  idle  it  away." 

When  a  witness  at  the  hearing  of  the  Government's  suit  against 
the  Steel  Corporation  he  was  asked:  "Can  you  remember  what 
percentage  of  the  business  of  each  of  the  subsidiaries  of  the  Steel 
Corporation  was  foreign  in  1910  and  in  1912?" 

Here  is  his  reply,  given  without  consulting  a  single  note  or  figure: 
"Yes;  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company,  21  per  cent,  in  1910;  24  per  cent, 
in  1912.  The  National  Tube  Company,  10  per  cent,  in  1910;  12  per 
cent,  in  191 2.  The  American  Sheet  &  Tin  Plate  Company,  11  per 
cent,  in  1910;  20  per  cent,  in  191 2.  The  American  Steel  &  Wire 
Company,  17  per  cent,  in  1910;  20  per  cent,  in  1912.  The  Lorain 
Steel  Company,  30  per  cent,  in  both  periods.  The  American  Bridge 
Company,  6  per  cent,  in  1910;  8.5  per  cent,  in  1912.  The  Illinois 
Steel  Company,  1.2  per  cent,  in  1910;  2.4  per  cent,  in  1912." 

"That  man's  mind  is  a  self-working  cash  register  and  adding  ma- 
chine combined,"  remarked  one  of  the  attorneys. 

The  brain-work,  the  detailed  knowledge,  the  intricate  practical 
calculations  necessary  to  solve  export  trade  problems  can  be  gathered 


114  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

from  the  way  Farrell  solved  the  difficulty  of  shipping  goods  from  New 
York  to  Vancouver,  British  Columbia,  at  a  cost  that  would  enable 
our  manufacturers  to  meet  European  ocean-borne  competition. 
Europe  could  send  material  for  $6  to  $y  a  ton,  whereas  the  rate  from 
Pittsburgh  was  ^i8  a  ton.  Mi.  Farrell  started  a  line  of  steamers 
which  left  New  York,  went  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan,  called  at 
various  ports  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  Mexico,  and  up  to 
Vancouver. 

"How  were  these  steamers  brought  back  to  New  York?"  queried 
the  attorney. 

Mr.  Farrell  replied  in  these  words: 

"We  go  into  the  merchandise  business  to  work  the  ships  around  the 
world  economically  to  enable  them  to  load  out  to  British  Columbia 
with  steel.  The  steamers  are  chartered  for  lumber  or  coal  from  Puget 
Sound  to  the  Gulf  of  California — that  is,  to  Guaymas  or  Mazatlan. 
They  then  go  across  to  a  place  called  Santa  Rosalia  and  load  full  car- 
goes of  copper  matte  from  the  Boleo  Mining  Company,  owned  by  the 
Rothschilds;  from  there  to  Dunkirk,  France,  or  Swansea,  England,  to 
discharge  this  copper.  They  are  then  chartered  again  to  bring  them 
across  the  Atlantic  in  order  to  get  them  back  here  to  go  on  a  triangular 
run  again.  They  generally  come  over  with  chalk;  occasionally  with 
other  commodities.  Just  now  we  are  bringing  over  a  cargo  of  tin 
plates  in  one  of  our  steamers  from  Swansea." 

Question:     How  long  does  that  trip  take — the  round  trip.? 

Mr.  Farrell:     From  seven  and  a  half  to  eight  months. 

In  view  of  the  international  commercial  conditions  that  will  arise 
after  the  war  it  is  comforting  to  know  that  there  is  such  a  man  as 
James  A.  Farrell  as  president  of  America's  largest  industrial  organiza- 
tion.    He  is  a  national  asset. 


HENRY  FORD 


HENRY  FORD 

HENRY  FORD  has  sprung  into  greater  international  fame  or 
notoriety  than  almost  any  other  civilian,  American  or  Eu- 
ropean, within  the  last  five  years.  More  epithets  and  enco- 
miums have  been  showered  upon  him  than  upon  any  other  man  in 
private  life. 

He  has  been  called  the  most  foolish,  and  the  sagest  of  men. 

He  has  been  called  idealist,  and  scheming,  self-seeking  egotist. 

He  has  been  called  humanitarian  and  slave-driver. 

His  historic  "Ford  Peace  Ship"  to  Europe  to  "get  the  boys  out  of 
the  trenches  by  Christmas"  has  been  lauded  as  the  noblest  incident 
of  the  European  war,  and  condemned  as  the  most  childish,  farcical  idea 
ever  born  in  the  brain  of  a  notoriety-seeker. 

His  $5-a-day-for-every-worker  plan  has  been  hailed  as  marking  the 
birth  of  a  new  and  better  era  in  industrialism,  and  it  has  been  ridiculed 
as  injurious  to  many  of  the  participants  and  contrary  to  all  concepts 
of  economics. 

His  gigantic  factory  has  been  described  as  a  model,  and  characterized 
as  the  most  ingenious  invention  ever  conceived  for  turning  men  into 
machines,  each  being  compelled  to  toil  at  tremendous  pressure  with 
clock-work  precision,  speed,  and  monotony. 

Some  have  seen  in  his  spectacular  exploits  nothing  but  adroit  strokes 
of  self-advertising;  others  see  them  wholly  and  solely  as  the  earnest 
efforts  of  an  altruist. 

"He  has  affected  to  despise  money,  yet  has  rolled  up  more  millions 
for  himself  in  the  last  few  years  than  perhaps  any  other  man,  save 
Rockefeller,"  declare  one  set  of  critics,  while  admirers  aver  that 
Ford  has  shown  more  contempt  for  money  and  greater  anxiety  to 
get  rid  of  it  usefully  than  any  other  modern  multi-millionaire. 

Many  look  upon  Ford  as  the  plainest  and  simplest  and  most  lovable 
of  men,  while  others  declare  he  has  completely  lost  his  head  and  is 
obsessed  with  the  idea  that  he  is  the  greatest  figure  in  America,  if  not 
in  the  world,  and  able  to  do  the  impossible. 

"With  all  his  money  Henry  Ford  lives  as  plainly  and  modestly 
as  when  he  was  a  working  mechanic,"  claim  some  of  his  friends,  but 
others  counter  that  he  now  delights  to  hobnob  in  the  limelight  with 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  with  Edison,  and  with  other  na- 
tional figures  and  that,  not  content  with  spending  money  lavishly  on 


ii6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

a  million-dollar  palace  and  5,000-acre  estate  in  Michigan,  he  must 
needs  have  a  pretentious  house  in  the  most  fashionable  resort  of  the 
idle  rich  in  the  sunny  South. 

Ford  is  a  seer,  a  superman,  able  to  read  human  nature  and  human 
conditions  better  than  any  other  business  man  in  America  contends 
one  faction;  intimates  have  declared  that  he  brags  about  never  having 
read  a  page  of  history  in  his  life  and  is  in  love  with  his  colossal  ignor- 
ance, boasting  he  needs  no  guidance  from  the  past  to  enable  him  to 
solve  all  the  world's  problems  of  the  present  and  of  the  future. 

"The  most  loyal  and  lovable  of  friends"  and  "Impossible  for  any 
self-respecting  man  to  get  along  with  him,"  are  two  diametrically 
opposite  comments. 

The  Ford  car  has  been  the  butt  of  more  jokes  than  any  other  thing 
or  any  person  in  modern  times — and  bought  by  more  people  than  any 
other  car  evolved  by  the  brains  of  man! 

What  is  the  truth  about  Henry  Ford  ?  Is  he  knave  or  saint,  fool  or 
sage,  egotist  or  altruist.''  Is  he  one  of  the  world's  really  great  men, 
or  is  he  merely  a  commonplace  mechanic  who  hit  upon  a  good  idea 
and  was  fortunate  in  finding  friends  able  and  willing  to  enable  him  to 
develop  it  and  exploit  \t} 

Henry  Ford,  as  I  analyze  him,  was  a  hard-working,  ambitious  me- 
chanic who  overcame  innumerable  difficulties  and  discouragements  in 
his  pursuit  of  an  idea  which  did  credit  to  both  his  head  and  his  heart. 
He  was  fortunate  in  being  befriended  by  two  or  three  able  business 
men  who  helped  to  steer  the  infantile  Ford  industry  along  right 
channels.  Ford  was,  or  became,  as  much  interested  in  producing  the 
right  type  of  men  as  in  manufacturing  the  right  kind  of  machine,  but 
his  intoxicating  success  went  to  his  head,  and  he  became  obsessed  with 
the  notion  that  there  was  nothing,  human  or  superhuman,  that  he  and 
his  money  could  not  accomplish. 

His  motives,  however,  have  always beenunimpeachable;noulterior, 
selfish  thought  of  self-advertising  or  self-glorification  was  for  a  mo- 
ment in  his  mind.  He  is  a  humanitarian  through  and  through,  an 
idealist,  an  evangelist  of  the  doctrine  of  industrial  reform  for  the 
benefit  of  the  labouring  classes.  His  boasted  ignorance  of  past  human 
experience  and  history,  his  innocence  of  economics,  and  his  latter-day 
arrogance  are  directing  him  into  activities  for  which  he  is  unfitted. 
His  hands  and  his  intentions  are  worthy  of  admiration,  but  his  expe- 
rience has  not  fitted  him  to  fill  the  role  of  Sir  Oracle  to  which  he 
aspires. 

Before  he  permitted  his  fairy-like  prosperity  to  warp  his  judgment 
and  his  perspective,  Henry  Ford  was  the  most  modest  and  lovable  of 
men,  simple  in  his  tastes,  humane  in  all  his  ideas,  determined  to  better 
the  lot  ofthe  working  people.     He  is  still  sincere.    He  is  still  prompted 


HENRY  FORD  117 

by  humanitarian  motives.  He  is  still  unenamoured  of  money-making 
for  money-making's  sake,  and  his  spectacular  dashes  into  the  lime- 
light are  not  prompted  by  any  thirst  for  notoriety  or  other  selfish 
purpose.  Unfortunately,  however,  he  is  not  bearing  the  strain  of 
suddenly  won  international  fame  with  quite  the  same  degree  of  success 
that  he  bore  the  strain  of  earlier  adversity. 

But  were  he  without  faults  he  would  not  be  human.  He  has  done 
so  much  good,  he  has  shown  such  a  humanitarian  example  to  other  big 
business  men,  his  achievements  have  been  so  praiseworthy,  and  his 
motives  have  been  so  irreproachable  that  it  seems  ungracious  to  in- 
dulge in  even  impartial  criticism. 

The  early  career  of  Henry  Ford  is  inspiring  to  the  youth  of  America. 
The  boy  Ford  was  no  different  from  other  boys  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  his  father's  300-acre  farm  at  Greenfield,  near  Detroit,  Michigan, 
where  Henry  was  born  on  July  30,  1863,  except  that  he  more  often 
played  with  mechanical  tools  than  with  other  youngsters.  It  is  re- 
corded that,  when  a  mere  lad,  he  played  truant  from  church  one  Sunday 
to  demonstrate  to  a  young  companion  v/ho  had  a  new  watch  that  he 
could  take  every  wheel  and  screw  apart  and  reassemble  them.  When 
still  a  schoolboy,  he  built  an  engine,  it  is  said,  out  of  odds  and  ends. 
He  was  proud  of  his  invention  but  was  chagrined  at  the  lack  of  enthu- 
siasm over  it. 

One  day,  before  he  was  sixteen,  instead  of  going  to  school  according 
to  programme,  he  jumped  on  a  train  for  Detroit,  walked  boldly  into 
the  works  of  James  Flower  &  Company,  manufacturers  of  steam  en- 
gines, and  booked  a  job  at  $2.50  a  week.  He  succeeded  in  finding  an 
old  lady  willing  to  board  him  for  $3.50.  To  balance  his  accounts,  he 
set  out  to  find  night  work  and  prevailed  upon  a  jeweller  to  pay  him 
$2  a  week  for  four  hours'  work  every  night.  He  worked  from  seven 
in  the  morning  to  six  in  the  evening  and  then  from  seven  to  eleven 
o'clock  at  night — a  15-hour  day,  leaving  him  about  six  hours  for 
sleep. 

Young  Ford  proved  a  capable  mechanic,  so  capable,  indeed,  that 
he  began  to  find  fault  with  the  inefficient,  labour-wasting  methods 
employed.  He  was  quite  sure  he  could  run  the  thing  much  better 
himself.  At  the  end  of  nine  months  his  pay  was  increased  to  $3,  but  a 
fortnight  later  he  quit  and  entered  the  Dry  Dock  Engine  Works, 
where  he  could  learn  something  new — about  the  manufacturing  of 
marine  machinery.  The  chance  to  enlarge  his  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience, he  calculated,  was  worth  incurring  a  reduction  of  fifty  cents 
a  week  in  pay — his  new  wage  was  only  $2.50.  But  it  didn't  stay  at 
that  figure  long;  in  a  short  time  it  was  doubled. 

This  enabled  him  to  give  up  his  night  work,  as  he  didn't  need  the 
extra  money  — "I  really  had  no  use  for  spare  money;  I  never  have 


ii8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

known  what  to  do  with  surplus  money  for  I  cannot  squander  it  on 
myself  without  hurting  myself.  Money  is  the  most  useless  thing  in 
the  world,"  was  and  is  the  Ford  dictum. 

For  a  period  at  this  stage  of  his  life  it  would  appear — from  Rose 
Wilder  Lane's  biography  of  Ford,  from  which  many  of  these  early 
facts  are  derived — that  he  became  "one  of  the  boys,"  joining  the  other 
youths  of  the  Dry  Dock  plant  in  their  skylarking.  However,  he  soon 
became  recognized  as  a  sort  of  leader  of  some  of  the  youths,  whom  he 
inspired  with  towering  ambitions. 

Ford  planned  that  they  should  organize  a  watch  factory  which,  he 
demonstrated  to  their  satisfaction,  could  turn  out  2,000  watches  a  day 
at  a  cost  of  37  cents  each,  to  be  sold  for  50  cents.  They  would  buy 
their  raw  materials  in  great  quantities,  start  it  going  at  one  end  of  his 
dream  factory  and  have  the  complete  watches  tossed  out  with  light- 
ning rapidity  at  the  other  end — exactly  what  Ford  is  doing  now, 
except  that  it  is  automobiles  he  thus  tosses  out,  the  daily  total  is 
not  2,000  but  3,000,  and  the  selling  price  of  the  finished  article  is  not 
50  cents  but  several  hundred  dollars. 

"What  about  capital?"  asked  one  prospective  partner,  an  inhabi- 
tant of  this  glorious  castle  in  the  air. 

Before  Ford  could  solve  that  little  problem  he  was  called  home 
to  look  after  the  farm  on  account  of  his  father  having  been  injured 
and  his  older  brother  having  fallen  ill.  Alas,  this  cheated  the  young 
band  of  their  promised  millions  and  deprived  the  world  of  50-cent 
Ford  watches. 

After  two  or  three  years  on  the  farm  he  married  a  neighbouring 
farmer's  daughter,  Clara  J.  Bryant,  in  18S8,  and  they  settled  comfort- 
ably on  forty  acres  of  the  Ford  farm,  having  built  a  snug  house  of 
their  own. 

Henry  now  had  leisure  of  an  evening  for  the  study  of  things  me- 
chanical, and  while  reading  a  technical  magazine  he  came  upon  an 
article  describing  a  novel  horseless  carriage  which  a  Frenchman  had 
invented.  The  idea  set  his  imagination  on  fire  and  off  he  went  to 
Detroit  one  day  for  materials  to  start  the  building  of  an  engine  which 
would  outdo  the  Frenchman's.  Detroit  had  recently  acquired  a  fire 
engine  driven  by  steam  and,  as  good  luck  would  have  it,  it  went  roar- 
ing down  the  street  at  the  rate  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour  while  Ford  was 
returning  to  the  station.  The  engine  carried  a  tremendous  water 
boiler — a  ponderous,  heavy,  awkward  load  whose  weight  consumed  a 
serious  part  of  the  propulsion  power.  Ford  was  immediately  struck 
with  the  waste  entailed  by  this  undue  weight  and  bulk  and  set  his 
mind  in  motion  to  think  up  something  that  could  do  away  with  it. 

After  much  thought,  he  started  to  utilize  gasoline  as  the  motive 
power.     A  full  knowledge  of  electricity,  however,  would  be  necessary 


HENRY  FORD  119 

before  attempting  to  put  his  theories  into  practice.  And  he  had  only 
a  book  acquaintance  with  this  mysterious  current. 

To  the  amazement  of  the  neighbourhood,  to  the  grief  of  his  family, 
and  against  the  entreaties  of  his  wife,  he  announced  that  he  was 
going  to  Detroit  to  get  a  job.  The  good  folk  of  Greenfield  thought 
poor  "Hen"  was  crazy. 

The  moment  he  and  his  wife  had  found  a  boarding-house  in  Detroit, 
Ford  made  for  the  Edison  Electric  Light  &  Power  Company.  For- 
tune favoured  him.  An  engine  in  a  sub-station  had  rebelled  and  the 
engineer  in  charge  could  not  manage  it.  Did  Ford  think  he  could 
tame  the  balky  engine  ?  He  guessed  he  would  like  to  have  a  try  at  it. 
Almost  in  a  twinkling  he  had  that  engine  running  smoothly  and  musi- 
cally. He  was  there  and  then  engaged  as  night  engineer  of  the  station 
at  ^45  per  month.  In  six  months  he  was  brought  to  headquarters  as 
manager  of  the  mechanical  department  at  $150  per  month. 

Ford  found  that  much  of  the  trouble  the  plant  had  been  experienc- 
ing was  due  to  the  indifferent  service  rendered  by  the  men,  who  had 
to  work  twelve  hours  a  day.  It  was  characteristic  that  he  introduced 
an  8-hour  day  for  all  the  men — except  himself;  he  continued  to 
work  twelve,  at  least. 

His  new  wealth  emboldened  him  to  seek  a  home  of  his  own.  By 
w^orking  every  night,  often  by  the  aid  of  a  lantern  held  by  Mrs.  Ford, 
the  mechanic  built  a  modest  home  and  a  capacious  shed  for  a  work- 
shop. Then  he  settled  down  to  construct  his  gasoline-driven  car- 
riage. 

In  that  shed  the  unknovv^n  mechanic  was  making  history.  He 
suffered  the  fate  common  to  inventors  and  pioneers.  As  he  toiled 
there  far  into  every  night,  renouncing  all  social  diversions,  his  mind 
intent  upon  the  one  consuming  idea  of  evolving  an  engine  that  would 
revolutionize  transportation,  the  neighbours,  seeing  the  light  strag- 
gling through  the  cracks  in  the  dilapidated  building  at  all  hours  of  the 
night,  began  to  regard  him  as  a  crank.  When  he  passed  on  his  way 
home  from  work,  neighbours  would  look  at  one  another  significantly 
and  tap  their  foreheads.  An  inoffensive  creature,  too  bad  he  had 
gone  crazy. 

Months  passed.  Then  one  night,  long  after  midnight,  amid  a 
downpour  of  rain,  Henry  Ford  chug-chugged  out  of  the  shed  and 
down  Edison  Avenue,  Mrs.  Ford  pacing  him  on  the  sidewalk.  He 
crawled  along  for  several  blocks  until  he  suddenly  realized  he  did  not 
know  how  he  could  turn  his  machine  homeward.  He  stopped,  got  out, 
pulled  and  tugged  until  he  had  turned  it  around  and  then  drove  tri- 
umphantly back  to  the  shed.  The  Ford  car  was  a  thing  of  reality — 
even  though  it  was  only  a  wheezy  one-cylinder  engine  mounted  on  a 
buggy  frame  and  four  bicycle  wheels  refitted  with  strong  tires. 


I20  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

The  local  newspapers  mentioned  the  mechanic's  wonderful  inven- 
tion, but  the  little  stir  it  caused  soon  died  down.  The  thing  was 
crude,  extremely  crude.  Ford  well  realized  he  must  spend  much  time 
in  devising  improvements  before  he  could  think  of  giving  up  his  posi- 
tion and  devoting  himself  to  making  horseless  carriages.  Mrs.  Ford 
having  returned  for  a  temporary  stay  with  her  mother,  Henry  was 
obliged  to  do  his  own  housekeeping,  and  often  of  a  night,  after  working 
on  his  engine  for  hours,  he  would  jump  on  board  and  ride  down  to 
have  a  sandwich  and  a  cup  of  coffee  from  "Coffee  Jim,"  who  kept  an 
all-night  lunch  wagon  in  the  city.     The  two  became  close  friends. 

For  eight  more  years — yes,  eight  long  years — Henry  Ford  kept 
working  twelve  hours  a  day  to  earn  his  living  and  the  living  of  his  wife 
and  little  son,  and  regularly  spent  half  the  night  evolving  improve- 
ments on  his  car.  By  this  time  automobiles  were  beginning  to  come 
into  vogue.  They  were  expensive,  luxurious  things,  appealing  only 
to  the  rich.  Ford's  idea  was  to  make  a  car  that  the  man  of  ordinary 
income  could  buy  and  use.  Finally  he  devised  a  two-cylinder  engine 
which  worked  splendidly,  built  a  real  car,  rode  it  about  the  streets  of 
Detroit  to  advertise  it,  and  then  tried  to  raise  capital  to  become  an 
automobile  builder.  But  no  capitalist  would  risk  backing  the  ven- 
ture. 

Ford  did  not  lose  courage.  Even  then  he  had  adopted  as  a  motto, 
"Anything  founded  on  the  idea  of  the  greatest  good  for  the  greatest 
number  will  win  in  the  end."     He  knew  he  would  win. 

"Coffee  Jim"  came  to  his  rescue.  He  financed  Ford,  enabling  him 
to  give  up  his  job  at  the  Edison  plant  and  to  build  a  car  to  compete 
at  the  automobile  races  at  Grosse  Point.  Ford  had  his  little  two- 
cylinder  racer  ready  on  time,  but  the  crowds  laughed  when  he  pulled 
out  to  compete  with  the  redoubtable,  unbeaten  Alexander  Winton. 
Ford,  the  unknown,  was  the  only  man  who  dared  to  enter  against  the 
famous  champion  in  the  all-comers'  race. 

But  the  jeers  soon  turned  to  cheers  as  the  little  car  shot  around  and 
around  the  track — and  won. 

At  one  bound  Ford  had  become  the  most  famous  automobile  racer 
in  America.  Everybody  crowded  around  wanting  to  know  who  had 
built  this  wonder-working  car.  Ford  modestly  admitted  he  was  its 
maker. 

^  The  limelight  was  immediately  turned  on  Ford  and  his  car  and  his 
little  workshop.  Capital  w^as  now  offered,  but  only  on  condition  that 
the  capitalists  w^ere  given  control.  They  wanted  to  build  motor 
palaces  costing  thousands  of  dollars.  Ford's  dream  was  to  establish 
an  automobile  factory  exactly  along  the  lines  of  the  watch  factory  of 
his  boyhood  day-dreams.  So  no  Ford  automobile  factory  sprang  into 
being  just  then. 


HENRY  FORD  121 

However,  several  men  of  modest  means  became  interested  in  Ford 
and  his  plans,  and  enough  capital  was  furnished  to  build  a  car  to 
startle  the  world  at  the  next  race.  Ford  constructed  a  four-cylinder 
monster  that  developed  eighty  horsepower,  Barney  Oldfield  was  in- 
duced to  drive  it,  and  in  a  three-mile  race  he  defeated  his  nearest  com- 
petitor by  half  a  mile!  This  feat,  which  rang  around  the  world, 
brought  the  necessary  capital  to  form  a  company.  Ford  became 
vice-president,  general  manager,  and  everything  else,  at  a  salary  of 
$150  a  month.  At  last  Ford  had  visions  of  making  his  dream  a 
reality.  But  again,  for  similar  reasons,  he  was  doomed  to  disap- 
pointment. His  new  backers  wished  to  turn  out  regal  chariots  to  sell 
at  a  profit  of  two  or  three  hundred  per  cent.  Ford  would  not  deviate 
from  his  plan  to  make  cars  within  reach  of  persons  of  small  earnings. 
The  clash  left  Ford,  then  over  thirty  years  old,  with  a  wife  and  child 
to  support,  and  with  neither  capital  nor  job. 

James  Couzens  and  one  or  two  others  stuck  to  Ford,  and  enough 
money  was  scraped  together  to  rent  a  large  shed,  hire  a  couple  of 
workmen,  and  buy  enough  material  to  start  making  a  few  low-priced 
cars.  The  company  was  nominally  capitalized  at  $100,000,  but  only 
$15,000  was  actually  paid  in.  Ford  worked  literally  day  and  night. 
His  two  mechanics  also  cheerfully  worked  overtime.  Customers 
came  to  the  shed  unsolicited  and  planked  down  deposits  on  cars  not 
yet  made.  Before  long  Ford  was  employing  forty  men  and  was 
ordering  material  by  the  car  load.  He  got  long  enough  credit  to  en- 
able him  to  turn  the  material  into  finished  cars  and  collect  his  money. 
Every  cent  he  could  save  was  put  into  the  business  and  no  fancy  sal- 
aries were  paid,  yet  it  was  often  a  case  of  nip  and  tuck  to  meet  bills. 
His  sales  soon  were  at  the  rate  of  1,000  cars  a  year.  The  price  was 
$900. 

Winter  was  coming  on  with  threatened  dearth  of  orders.  Then 
Ford  conceived  the  idea  of  breaking  the  world's  speed  record  with  a 
new  four-cylinder  car.  On  the  frozen  Lake  Sinclair  Ford  himself  drove 
his  new  car  a  mile  in  39  1-5  seconds,  lowering  the  world's  record  by 
the  astonishing  margin  of  seven  seconds.  That  would  bring  orders 
aplenty  for  the  coming  year. 

Alas,  when  Ford  returned  to  the  shop  after  his  amazing  performance 
he  was  informed,  the  story  runs,  that  there  wasn't  a  dollar  in  the 
till  to  pay  the  men's  wages!  And,  to  make  matters  worse,  it  was 
just  on  the  eve  of  Christmas.  When  his  workmen  trooped  into 
the  oflSce  for  their  pay,  Ford  made  a  clean  breast  of  conditions. 
If  they  would  stand  by  him  everything  would  be  all  right,  but  if  they 
deserted,  the  jig  was  up.  To  a  man  the  workers  pledged  their  loyal 
support,  and  the  way  cars  were  turned  out  during  the  following  days 
was  eye-opening. 


122  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

This  proved  the  turning  point  in  Henry  Ford's  career.  Success 
came  fast. 

In  January,  1914,  the  world  was  startled  by  Henry  Ford's  announce- 
ment that  he  would  pay  all  his  unskilled  workmen  a  minimum  of  $5 
a  day  and  reduce  their  working  hours  from  ten  to  eight.  The  news 
caused  such  an  invasion  of  Detroit  that  the  police  were  powerless  to 
handle  the  thousands  of  clamourcrs  for  employment,  and  finally  the 
fire  department  had  to  turn  out  in  force  and  charge  the  mob  with 
volleys  of  water  from  their  most  powerful  hose,  a  species  of  disorganiz- 
ation and  excitement  not  repeatahle,  as  no  man  is  now  engaged  who 
has  not  lived  for  six  months  in  Detroit. 

Recipients  of  the  $5  a  day — and  that  included  the  most  illiterate 
men  of  the  fifty-five  nationalities  employed  in  the  works — had  to 
comply  with  certain  conditions  calculated  to  induce,  or  compel  them 
to  lead  a  mode  of  life  approved  by  Ford.  I'his  mild  form  of  coercion 
incited  resentment  among  numbers  of  the  workmen  and  it  was  soon 
found  necessary  to  modify  the  conditions.  By  establishing  schools 
for  teaching  English,  by  instituting  an  extensive  welfare  department, 
by  providing  hospitals,  gymnasiums  and  the  like,  and  encouraging 
the  labourers  to  use  their  new-found  wealth  wisely,  astounding  results 
were  obtained,  for  both  Ford  and  the  men. 

Thus  in  February,  1914,  under  the  new  plan,  less  than  1^1,000  men, 
working  only  eight  hours  a  day,  made  26,000  cars  against  only  16,000 
cars  made  by  fully  16,000  men  in  the  previous  February  working  ten 
hours  a  day,  an  increase  of  10,000  cars.  The  plan  paid  with  a  ven- 
geance ! 

Five  months  after  the  profit-sharing  scheme,  as  it  was  called,  went 
into  effect,  the  average  bank  account  of  the  beneficiaries  had  increased 
almost  threefold,  the  value  of  homes  owned  by  them  increased  almost 
90  per  cent.,  the  value  of  lots  bought  on  contract  increased  135  per 
cent.,  life  insurance  among  the  men  increased  nearly  90  per  cent,  and 
the  number  of  employees  living  under  unsatisfactory  conditions  was 
reduced  from  23  per  cent,  to  only  i^  per  cent.  The  profit-sharers 
now  include  several  hundred  ex-convicts,  a  class  in  which  Ford  takes 
intense  interest.  "The  way  to  mend  a  bad  world,"  says  Ford,  "is 
to  create  a  better  world.  The  way  to  create  a  right  one  is  to  give 
people  enough  to  live  on  so  that  they  are  not  discouraged  and  want  to 
go  into  destruction" — meaning  war,  revolution,  and  the  like. 

Having  satisfied  his  workers.  Ford  next  announced  that  he  would 
distribute  ^10,000,000  or  more  of  his  year's  profits  among  his  cus- 
tomers, provided  that  a  certain  output  was  reached.  And,  of  course, 
it  was  reached;  the  actual  amount  distributed  was  approximately 
$15,000,000. 

One  Ford  motto  is:     "To  make  money,  make  quantity."     Here 


HENRY  FORD  123 

are  figures  from  the  report  of  the  Ford  Motor  Company  for  the 
fiscal  year  ended  July  31,  1916: 

Profit  for  the  year \  .  $59,994,118 

Gross  business  done i    .  206,867,347 

Number  of  cars  made '    \.  508,000 

Total  employees,  all  plants -    .  49,870 

Employees  getting  $5  a  day  or  more 36,870 

Cash  on  hand S2>S50,77I 

Ford's  own  share  of  the  1916  profits  was  computed  at  $35,000,000. 
No  wonder  Ford  says:  "I  don't  have  to  worry  about  the  banks, 
they  have  to  worry  about  me.  They  have  to  sit  up  nights  scraping 
together  enough  to  pay  me  my  interest." 

His  output  of  cars  is  now  approaching  the  i,ooo,ooo-a-year  mark, 
or  over  3,000  every  week  day — the  plant  is  closed  on  Sundays. 

The  Ford  plant  at  Detroit  with  its  35,000  men  and  its  Aladdin- 
like machinery  is  now  regarded  as  one  of  the  greatest  industrial  won- 
ders of  modern  times  and  is  visited  by  as  many  as  5,000  sightseers  a 
day. 

Ford  now  has  large  branch  factories  in  Canada  and  England,  is 
building  one  in  Ireland,  and  is  planning  the  erection  of  huge  factories 
at  Chicago,  Kansas  City,  and  in  New  Jersey. 

He  is  arranging  to  bring  his  own  ore  from  his  own  mines,  smelt  it 
in  his  own  furnaces,  mould  it  in  his  own  plants,  forge  it  in  his  own 
works  and,  in  short,  become  as  far  as  possible  self-sufficient. 

His  greatest  unrealized  business  ambition  is  to  supply  the  farmers 
of  the  world  with  very  low-priced  tractors.  This  Thor's  task  will 
devolve  mainly  upon  Ford's  only  child,  Edsel  Ford,  who  is  following 
worthily  in  his  father's  footsteps. 

"I  would  like,"  Ford  declares,  "to  put  the  farmers  in  possession 
of  the  land,  to  destroy  monopoly  and  leave  the  producers  free  to 
develop.  I  would  like  to  liberate  the  farmer  from  his  debt.  And 
we  can  do  it,  too.  In  the  past  a  man  couldn't  get  enough  variety  of 
experience  on  the  farm;  but  now  with  the  telephone,  the  phonograph, 
the  moving  pictures,  the  automobile — so  that  he  can  get  away  to  the 
big  cities  when  he  wants  to — the  farmer  can  live  in  the  country  and 
have  all  the  experience  in  the  world.  The  high  cost  of  clothing  and 
implements  and  transportation  hampers  the  farmer,  and  the  Trusts 
cheat  him,  and  the  banks  soak  him  an  awful  price  for  his  money.  I 
want  to  do  away  with  all  those  things." 

Not  long  ago  Mr,  Ford — although  he  declares  "I  don't  believe  in 
boundaries;  I  think  nations  are  silly  and  flags  are  silly  too" — told 
President  Wilson  that  he  could  arrange  to  turn  out  1,000  one-man  sub- 
marines a  day,  the  tiny  craft  to  sneak  up  to  the  enemy  ship,  stick  what 


124  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

he  called  a  "pill"  into  its  vitals  and  submerge  before  the  pill  exploded, 
causing  the  ship  to  sink,  a  job,  however,  less  to  his  liking  than  housing 
and  nurturing  thousands  of  birds  on  his  novel  farm.  The  one-man 
submarine  has  not  yet  taken  possession  of  the  ocean. 

Here  are  two  of  Ford's  recent  notable  utterances: 

"Money  doesn't  do  me  any  good.  I  can't  spend  It  on  myself. 
Money  has  no  value,  anyway.  It  is  merely  a  transmitter,  like  elec- 
tricity. I  try  to  keep  it  moving  as  fast  as  I  can,  for  the  best  interests 
of  everybody  concerned.  A  man  can't  afford  to  look  out  for  himself 
at  the  expense  of  any  one  else,  because  anything  that  hurts  the  other 
man  is  bound  to  hurt  you  in  the  end,  the  same  way." 

"I  am  going  to  keep  the  American  fl.ig  flying  on  my  plant  until  the 
war  is  over  and  then  I  am  going  to  pull  it  down  for  good;  I  am  going 
to  hoist  in  its  place  the  Flag  of  All  Nations  whicli  is  being  designed  in 
my  office  right  now." 

It  is  not  yet  time  to  attempt  to  fix  Henry  Ford's  place  in  history. 


JAMES  B.  FORGAN 


JAMES  B.  FORGAN 

I  WISH   my   career  were   beginning  instead    of  drawing   to    a 
I  close." 
A   sigh   of  regret   accompanied   these  words,   by  James   B, 
Forgan,  the  great  national  banker  of  Chicago. 

I  had  asked  Mr.  Forgan  whether  the  opportunities  for  young  men 
were  as  great  to-day  in  the  banking  field  as  when  he  won  his  spurs. 

"There  are  certainly  at  present,"  he  declared,  "greater  opportu- 
nities than  ever  before  and  more  of  them  for  young  men  entering  the 
banking  business.  Banking  in  this  country  is  now  in  an  evolutionary 
stage.  The  deplorable  European  war  has  created  the  opportunities, 
and  the  Federal  Reserve  system — not  yet  fully  understood  or  appre- 
ciated— affords  us  the  means  of  taking  advantage  of  them. 

"We  are  just  at  the  beginning  of  an  era  of  banking  development  in 
this  country  through  which  our  banking  system  will  take  its  place 
among  and  rank  with  the  great  banking  systems  of  Europe  in  national 
and  international  trade  and  finance.  The  prestige  and  power  of  these 
older  systems  for  years  to  come  will  be  seriously  weakened  and  'their 
extremity  will  be  our  opportunity.'  There  are  untold  opportunities 
ahead  for  competent  bankers  ready  to  take  advantage  of  them." 

Fearlessness  and  a  superlative  sense  of  honour  are  outstanding 
characteristics  of  James  B.  Forgan.  Let  me  recite  an  illustrative 
incident. 

A  friend  was  in  Mr.  Forgan's  ofiice  one  day  when  a  visitor  came 
in  and  engaged  him  in  conversation  at  the  far  side  of  the 
office. 

The  two  talked  together  quietly  for  some  time,  but  the  banker 
then  began  to  exhibit  symptoms  of  annoyance.  Presently  Mr. 
Forgan  jumped  up  and  angrily  ordered  him  out  of  the  office. 

"Excuse  me  for  having  acted  this  way,"  said  Mr.  Forgan,  returning 
to  his  friend,  "but  what  do  you  think  that  fellow  put  up  to  me?  He 
tried  to  bribe  me  to  make  him  a  loan  with  the  bank's  money." 

Very  early  James  B.  (the  "B."  is  for  Berwick)  Forgan  learned  the 
value  of  keeping  his  eye  on  the  ball  whether  playing  the  game  of  life 
or  of  golf.  His  father  was  a  golf-ball  and  golf-club  maker  at  St. 
Andrews,  that  ancient  seat  of  learning  and  of  "the  royal  game"  and 
one  of  Auld  Scotia's  most  historic,  picturesque,  and  revered  towns, 
once  the  see  of  Scotland's  patron  saint,  where  stood  for  centuries  a 

125 


126  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

cathedral  "of  which  the  very  ruins  are  stupendous."  He  learned  how 
to  swing  a  club  before  he  aspired  to  become  a  cashier. 

Unlike  the  majority  of  men  who  have  made  an  impress  upon 
American  history,  young  Forgan  started  without  the  handicap  of 
poverty  or  a  poor  education.  So  expert  was  his  father  that  he  built 
up  a  business  which  employed  quite  a  number  of  men  and  yielded  him 
a  very  considerable  fortune,  the  Forgan  product  having  been  in  de- 
mand the  world  over.  They  were  godly  people,  Mr.  Forgan's  parents, 
and  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  two  of  their  sons  become  ministers, 
while  the  only  daughter  married  a  member  of  the  cloth.  James  B. 
and  David  R.  became  bankers,  while  the  other  son  succeeded  to  the 
father's  business.  Incidentally,  the  business  has  been  shot  through 
and  through  by  the  war,  the  head  of  it,  Mr.  Forgan's  nephew,  having 
gone  to  the  front  as  an  officer  soon  after  hostilities  began,  while  some 
thirty  of  the  workmen  also  entered  the  service,  leaving  only  old  or 
infirm  workers. 

From  Madras  College,  St.  Andrews,  James  B.  went  to  Forres 
Academy,  where  his  uncle  was  rector  for  half  a  century  and  head  of 
the  boys'  private  boarding  school  connected  with  it.  On  graduating 
he  was  given  the  choice  of  entering  the  famous  St.  Andrews  University 
or  going  into  business.  A  local  la\\'yer  had  discerned  the  makings  of  a 
legal  luminary  in  the  youth  and  induced  him  to  enter  his  office.  It 
was  young  Forgan's  intention  to  attend  the  necessary  classes  in  the 
university  and  study  law  at  the  same  time,  but  his  employer  died  and 
another  lawyer,  who  was  local  agent  of  the  Ro^'al  Bank  of  Scotland, 
got  hold  of  him.     So  James  B.  Forgan  became  a  banker's  apprentice. 

The  ambition  of  most  Scottish  youths  is  to  go  farther  afield  and 
see  the  wider  world.  On  finishing  his  three  years'  training,  Forgan 
got  a  job  with  the  Bank  of  British  North  America,  in  London,  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  service  across  the  Atlantic,  the  goal  of  so  many 
ambitious  Scotsmen.  In  1872,  when  twenty  years  of  age — he  was 
born  in  1852 — he  was  sent  to  Montreal,  then  to  New  York,  and  next 
to  Halifax. 

The  Bank  of  Nova  Scotia  spotted  the  clean-cut  young  giant,  noted 
his  ability,  and  engaged  him  as  paying  teller.  He  worked  conscien- 
tiously, studied  banking  from  every  angle,  and  won  the  confidence 
of  his  superiors. 

Then  he  had  what  he  calls  "a  stroke  of  luck." 

The  manager  of  the  branch  at  Yarmouth  had  diphtheria  in  his 
family  and  was  quarantined.  Someone  had  to  be  sent  to  take  charge 
without  delay.     Teller  Forgan  was  the  bank's  choice. 

"When  can  you  go?"  asked  the  general  manager,  Thomas  Fyshe. 

"Right  now,"  Forgan  replied. 

"I  didn't — and  don't — believe  in  procrastinating  when  Opportunity 


JAMES  B.  FORGAN  127 

knocks  at  the  door,"  Mr.  Forgan  has  since  said;  "I  hurriedly  packed 
my  bag  and  caught  the  first  train  out. 

"I  believe  there  is  some  mysterious  influence  outside  of  ourselves 
which  gives  us  opportunity.  If  I  had  not  proved  efficient,  the  oppor- 
tunity would  not  have  come  to  me — it  would  have  passed  to  someone 
ready  to  grab  it.  So  I  believe  in  the  destiny  that  shapes  our  ends — 
and  in  keeping  your  powder  dry!" 

When  at  Yarmouth  he  was  asked  to  make  a  thorough  inspection  of 
the  bank.  He  did,  and  his  report  was  as  exhaustive  and  lucid  as 
research  and  care  could  make  it.  The  finished  document  stamped 
him  as  a  master  banker  in  the  eyes  of  the  directors.  They  had  him 
inspect  other  branches. 

His  Scottish  thoroughness,  plus  brains,  won  him  that  coveted  prize 
in  the  life  of  every  aspiring  bank  clerk,  appointment  to  an  official 
position.  He  was  made  manager  of  the  bank's  Liverpool,  Nova 
Scotia,  branch.  Other  promotion  followed.  When  expansion  neces- 
sitated the  election  of  a  regular  Inspector  of  Branches,  young  Forgan 
— he  was  then  only  thirty — was  the  man  chosen  for  this  responsible 
work.     The  compilation  of  that  first  report  was  still  bearing  fruit. 

The  United  States  was  virgin  territory,  the  Bank  of  Nova  Scotia 
never  having  ventured  to  invade  it.  But  the  directors  were  progres- 
sive. They  were  anxious  to  conquer  new  fields.  Why  not  enter  the 
heart  of  the  States? 

Hadn't  they  a  level-headed,  forceful  young  officer  who  had  proved 
himself  equal  to  any  task?     Let  him  blazon  the  trail. 

At  thirty-three  James  B.  Forgan  set  out  to  establish  a  branch  at 
Minneapolis.  He  knew  business  and  how  to  handle  business  men. 
He  had  given  special  study  to  credits,  having  learned  in  the  school  of 
experience  that  one  of  the  easiest  ways  not  to  make  money  is  to  make 
losses.  His  early  steeping  in  the  theory  of  banking  had  been  supple- 
mented by  practice  in  many  places  and  under  various  conditions. 
Already  his  name  and  fame  were  not  unknown  in  financial  circles. 

His  work  in  Minneapolis  quickly  told.  Beginning  modestly,  the 
business  grew.  And  James  B.  Forgan  was  recognized  as  bigger  than 
his  position.  Within  three  years  the  important  Northwestern  Na- 
tional Bank  of  Minneapolis  offered  him  its  cashiership.  Here  also  he 
applied  himself  to  building  up  his  institution.  His  previous  experi- 
ence enabled  him  to  multiply  the  bank's  connections  and  ramifications. 
The  Northwestern  became  one  of  the  strongest  institutions  in  its 
section  and  Forgan  had  carved  for  himself  a  niche  among  America's 
leading  bank  executives. 

Lyman  J.  Gage  took  note  of  the  young  banker's  progress  and  in 
1892  took  Mr.  Forgan  into  the  First  National  of  Chicago  as  first 
vice-president.     A  spell  of  ill-health  delayed  his  acceptance  of  the 


128  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

presidency  when  Mr.  Gage  became  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  but  on 
his  recovery  (in  1900)  he  stepped  into  the  highest  banking  position  in 
Chicago. 

And  this  is  what  happened  in  fifteen  years. 

Bank's  Growth  Under  James  B.  Forgan's  Presidency 

january  9,    january  31, 

ASSETS  1900  I915* 

Loans  and  Discounts ^527,781, 462  5^134,762,853 

United  States  Bonds 879,160  3,824,000 

Other  Bonds  and  Securities 3.39I.9I3  38,728,312 

Bank  Building 500,000  1,250,000 

Cash  and  Due  from  Banks 16,827,327  79,847,616 

^49,379,862     55258,412,781 

LIABILITIES 

Capital  Stock  Paid  in $  3,000,000  $  10,000,000 

Surplus  Fund 2,000,000  20,000,000 

Other  Undivided  Profits 531,951  2,713,680 

Special  Deposit  of  United  States  Bonds 3,340,000 

Circulating  Notes 450,000  924,000 

Dividends  Unpaid 550,000 

Reserved  for  Taxes 50»3I9  575,264 

Foreign  Bills  Rediscounted 83,214  393,798 

Deposits 43,264,378  219,916,039 

^49,379,862     ^258,412,781 

On  January  i,  1916,  Mr,  Forgan  was  made  chairman  of  the  board, 
but  he  is  still  active  in  the  business. 

Those  impressive  figures,  though  almost  unmatched  in  American 
banking  annals,  do  not  tell  the  whole  story  of  Mr.  Forgan's  achieve- 
ments. 

Mr.  Forgan  early  realized  the  value  of  inspiring  and  stirring  to  en- 
thusiasm those  working  with  him,  and,  to  this  end,  he  established  in 
1903  a  generous  pension  fund  for  employees.  He  is  as  solicitous  for  the 
welfare  and  advancement  of  the  youngest  oflRce-boy  who  comes  under 
his  wing  as  for  the  officers.  Told  that  he  used  to  have  a  long,  fatherly 
talk  with  every  new  boy  entering  the  Minneapolis  bank,  impressing 
upon  him  that  the  shaping  of  his  career  would  begin  from  that  moment, 
and  advising  him  how  to  comport  himself  to  win  promotion,  I  asked 
Mr.  Forgan  about  this. 

"Yes,"  he  replied.     "I  took  a  great  deal  of  pride  in  the  selection  of 

*Includes  First  Trust  and  Savings  Bank,  organized  by  Mr.  Forgan  in  1903  and 
owned  by  the  stockholders  of  The  First  National  Bank  of  Chicago. 


JAMES  B.  FORGAN  129 

young  men  entering  the  bank.  I  became  friendly  with  the  principal 
of  the  high  school,  and  asked  him  to  suggest  likely  young  men.  In 
this  way  we  built  up  an  exceptionally  fine  force,  the  result  of  which  is 
that  the  young  men  then  engaged  are  now  at  the  head  of  the  institu- 
tion. 

"I  used  to  take  the  boys  into  my  office  and  impress  upon  them  that 
their  ambition  should  be  to  become  bankers,  not  mere  machines  or 
bookkeepers;  that  they  should  keep  their  eyes  open  to  everything 
that  was  going  on,  and  endeavour  to  understand  what  the  figures  they 
made  on  the  books  actually  represented.  I  also  pointed  out  to  them 
that  they  should  be  observers  of  men,  and  that  they  could  form  opin- 
ions of  the  business  methods  of  the  bank's  customers  and  of  the  other 
business  men  on  whom  they  had  drafts  to  collect  on  their  rounds  as 
messengers.  By  exercising  intelligence  they  could  see  things  and 
gather  information  and  impressions  which  might  be  of  value  to  the 
bank's  officers." 

Both  Chicago  and  the  nation's  bankers  have  honoured  James  B. 
Forgan.  He  has  been  chairman  of  the  Chicago  Clearing  House 
Committee  since  1901;  was  elected  not  only  a  director  of  the  Federal 
Reserve  Bank  of  Chicago,  but  president  of  the  Federal  Advisory 
Council,  a  signal  national  tribute  by  fellow  bankers  to  his  outstanding 
ability.  He  is  chairman  of  the  Security  Bank  and  the  Second  Se- 
curity Bank,  a  director  in  various  local  enterprises  and  of  the  Equita- 
ble Life  Assurance  Society. 

Oftener  than  once  Mr.  Forgan  has  been  called  to  New  York  to  aid 
in  cracking  banking  nuts,  particularly  in  times  of  crisis  and  when  the 
reorganization  of  our  currency  system  was  under  way.  "The  best 
practical  banker  in  America,"  he  has  been  called  by  more  than  one 
high  authority. 

I  recall  that  at  the  last  annual  conference  of  the  American  Bankers' 
Association  I  attended,  no  other  man's  hand  was  quite  so  continuously 
being  shaken  by  delegates  during  the  intervals  between  the  formal 
proceedings.  His  was  a  commanding,  distinguished  figure,  dignified, 
yet  not  forbidding,  his  face  often  wreathed  in  smiles  as  he  received  a 
constant  stream  of  friends  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 

He  is  a  man  of  broad  sympathy.  Chicago  recognizes  in  him 
one  of  her  foremost  citizens,  a  great  moral  force,  a  leader  and  director 
of  charitable  movements,  a  (Presbyterian)  hospital  trustee,  a  patron 
of  many  philanthropies. 

His  advice  to  young  men — he  has  three  sons  of  his  own — is  to  equip 
themselves  for  higher  and  higher  positions — and  save  money!  Being 
a  Scot,  he  absorbed  the  spirit  of  thrift  with  his  porridge  and  his  Shorter 
Catechism. 

"Extravagance,"  he  declares,  "is  America's  national  sin.     Most 


I30  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

young  people  make  no  effort  to  save;  few  even  of  older  years  save 
systematically.  My  method  was  to  start  the  new  year  by  fixing  the 
sum  I  would  save  during  the  year.  If  I  decided  to  buy  a  $i,ooo  bond 
I  would  pay  perhaps  $ioo  in  cash,  borrow  the  balance  from  the  bank, 
and  repay  ^75  every  month.  That  ^75  was  the  first  thing  I  paid  on 
receiving  my  salary.  The  remainder  had  to  last  the  whole  month. 
December  found  me  sole  owner  of  the  bond.  I  never  speculated — 
I  can't  read  the  Stock  Exchange  tape  intelligently  even  now." 

If  the  United  States  is  to  seize  the  financial  and  commercial  oppor- 
tunities now  offering,  the  example  of  James  B.  Forgan  must  be  fol- 
lowed widely,  for  bankers  cannot  create  capital.  You  and  I  and  our 
fellow-citizens  have  to  attend  to  that. 


HENRY  C.  FRICK 


HENRY  C.  FRICK 

ONE  day  a  young  man  walked  into  the  office  of  Prof.  O.  S. 
Fowler,  prominent  as  a  phrenologist,  in  Pittsburgh.  The 
bumps  discovered  by  the  Professor  caused  him  to  rub  his 
eyes.  His  "reading,"  dictated  to  his  stenographer,  contained  such 
sentences  as  these: 

"Your  brain  is  large.  You  have  more  force,  energy,  vim,  and  get- 
out-of-my-way  drive,  push,  courage,  pluck,  than  one  man  out  of  thou- 
sands. Grapple  with  difficulties  with  both  hands  and  dash  through 
hard  and  easy.  Actually  enjoy  life's  struggles.  Love  antagonism 
as  you  love  food.  Do  best  when  pushed  most.  Are  actuated  by  the 
highest  sense  of  character.  Become  terribly  enraged  if  your  character 
is  aspersed.     Love  of  making  money  is  strong." 

That  was  written  on  April  lo,  1879. 

To-day  the  man,  no  longer  young,  lives  in  one  of  the  most  costly 
and  most  artistic  palaces  on  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  amid  one  of  the 
world's  finest  private  collections  of  paintings,  panels,  statuary,  pot- 
tery, etc.  He  is  the  largest  owner  of  land  and  buildings  in  Pittsburgh, 
including  an  open  space  of  some  250  acres. 

But  neither  the  Fifth  Avenue  palace  with  its  priceless  treasures  of 
art  nor  the  great  open  park  in  Pittsburgh  has  been  acquired  to  indulge 
any  luxurious  personal  taste.  Both  are  to  be  left  to  the  public  with 
endowments  of  millions,  the  one  as  an  art  gallery,  the  other  as  a  public 
park  and  children's  playground. 

The  bumps  did  not  lie.  Their  possessor,  starting  without  enough 
money  to  keep  himself  decently  clad,  was  employing  thousands  of 
men  and  was  worth  millions  of  dollars  in  his  early  thirties  and  later 
became,  not  only  the  foremost  business  leader  in  Pittsburgh,  but  one 
of  the  very  ablest  industrial  giants  America  has  ever  produced.  Very 
abundantly,  too,  did  he  justify  the  phrenological  indications  of  cour- 
age, combativeness,  and  stick-to-itiveness.  The  world  was  later  to 
resound  with  an  exhibition  of  his  fearlessness,  his  bravery,  his  relent- 
lessness. 

The  young  man  of  the  extraordinary  bumps  was  Henry  Clay  Frick. 

Mr.  Prick's  rightful  place  in  the  steel  history  of  the  United  States 
is  imperfectly  understood,  largely  because  he  had  neither  faculty  nor 
inclination  for  the  bringing  of  himself  and  his  achievements  to  public 
notice.     He  preferred  to  work  and  to  let  his  one-time  partner,  Andrew 

131 


132  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Carnegie,  do  the  talking.  Mr.  Frick  is  popularly  known  merely  as 
*'The  Coke  King."  Yet  his  achievements  in  the  coke  field  were  ex- 
ceeded by  what  he  accomplished  in  the  steel  industry.  Practical 
steel  men  declare  that  Frick  did  more  to  make  the  Carnegie  Steel 
Company  than  Carnegie  himse'f  did;  he  found  it  an  unorganized, 
unsystematized,  haphazard  affair  earning  less  than  j52,ooo,ooo  a 
year,  and  in  twelve  years  he  evolved  a  huge,  self-contained,  integrated, 
coherent,  symmetrical  organization  earning  $40,000,000.  Nor  is  it 
any  secret  in  the  iron  trade  that  H.  C.  Frick  was  urgently  called  in  by 
the  Morgan-Rockefeller  interests  to  save  the  United  States  Steel  Cor- 
poration from  the  rocks  to  which  it  once  seemed  headed — indeed, 
Carnegie  at  one  time  was  quite  sure  the  whole  billion-dollar  Steel 
Trust  would  fall  into  his  hands  through  default  in  the  payment  of  the 
interest  on  the  Steel  bonds  he  held. 

And  here  let  me  relate  a  little  bit  of  unrecorded  history. 

Although  Mr.  Frick  had  been  named  one  of  the  Steel  Corporation 
directors  on  its  formation,  he  had  not  attended  one  of  its  meetings. 
Along  with  the  Mellon  and  Donner  interests  of  Pittsburgh,  he  had 
formed  the  Union  Steel  Company,  a  wire  enterprise,  as  a  counterstroke 
to  John  W.  Gates's  action  in  invading  the  coke  field.  For  the 
purpose  of  inducing  Mr.  Frick  to  become  active  in  the  direction  of  the 
Steel  Corporation,  the  latter  purchased  the  Union  Steel  Works,  and 
Mr.  Frick  at  once  threw  himself  enthusiastically  into  the  task  of  aiding 
in  steering  the  great  organization  through  its  troubles. 

The  first  thing  he  did  was  to  insist  upon  the  stopping  of  the  dividend 
then  being  paid  on  the  common  stock.  Even  this,  however,  threat- 
ened to  be  insufficient  to  avert  financial  disaster. 

Mr.  Frick,  bent  upon  reducing  the  preferred  dividend,  went  to 
Mr.  Morgan  to  convince  him  of  the  absolute  necessity  of  this  drastic 
step.  The  discussion  was  nearing  a  climax  on  board  Mr.  Morgan's 
yacht,  the  Corsair,  as  she  steamed  toward  lower  New  York. 

Rising  from  the  breakfast  table  and  going  on  deck  with  Mr.  Frick, 
Mr.  Morgan,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  pointed  to  the  financial  district, 
and  with  a  sweep  of  his  hand,  murmured  brokenly:  "If  you  reduce 
the  dividends  on  that  preferred  stock  I  could  not  face  going  downtown 
to-morrow."  • 

Mr.  Frick,  realizing  how  keenly  Mr.  Morgan  felt,  assured  him  that 
not  another  word  should  be  said  on  the  subject.  And  as  it  happened, 
Mr.  Morgan  was  right  and  Mr.  Frick  wrong,  for  good  times  set  in  al- 
most immediately  and  the  billion-dollar  steel  craft  sailed  safely  away 
from  the  rocks. 

From  that  day  to  this,  Henry  C.  Frick  has  been  one  of  the  most 
active  and  influential  directors  of  the  Steel  Corporation,  Judge  Gary 
finding  in  him  one  of  his  ablest  of  associates  and  counsellors.     Mr. 


HENRY  C.  FRICK  133 

Frick  was  one  of  the  first  to  recognize  the  calibre  of  James  A.  Farrell, 
who  has  made  so  successful  a  record  as  president  of  the  Steel  Corpora- 
tion during  the  last  seven  years. 

To  the  masses  Mr.  Frick  is  known  chiefly  as  the  man  who  refused 
to  compromise  the  bloody  Homestead  strike  even  after  he  had  been 
grievously  shot  and  stabbed  by  an  anarchist  bent  on  assassinating  him. 
The  only  other  occasion  when  Mr.  Frick  figured  prominently  in  the 
newspapers  was  when  he  brought  suit  against  Andrew  Carnegie  to 
prevent  him  from  seizing  Frick's  interest  in  the  Carnegie  Steel  Com- 
pany ©n  terms  which  Mr.  Frick  contended  were  confiscatory  and  un- 
fair in  the  last  degree,  a  contention  which  led  to  a  readjustment  of  the 
deal  very  much  more  in  favour  of  Mr.  Frick.  The  career  of  Mr.  Frick, 
however,  is  worth  recording,  for  it  is  typically  American.  It  illus- 
trates with  unusual  clarity  what  an  admixture  of  hard  work  and 
brains  can  accomplish  without  financial  or  family  favours.  It  drives 
home  the  old,  old  lesson  that  there  is  nothing  mysterious,  nothing 
occult,  nothing  inexplicable  about  the  attainment  of  success,  for, 
though  the  road  to  the  summit  is  steep,  rough,  and  barrier-strewn, 
yet  incessant  effort,  unflinching  courage,  concentration  of  purpose 
and  intelligent  foresight  can  climb  the  steepest  hills  and  overcome 
the  greatest  of  obstacles. 

Mr.  Frick  expressed  it  very  simply,  not  to  say  humbly,  when  I 
asked  him  to  explain  how  and  why  he  had  succeeded. 

"The  secret  of  my  success?"  he  repeated.  "There  is  no  secret 
about  success.  Success  simply  calls  for  hard  work,  devotion  to  your 
business  at  all  times,  day  and  night.  I  was  very  poor  and  my  educa- 
tion was  limited,  but  I  worked  very  hard  and  always  sought  oppor- 
tunities. 

"To  win  in  the  battle  of  life  a  man  needs,  in  addition  to  whatever 
ability  he  possesses,  courage,  tenacity,  and  deliberation.  He  must 
learn  never  to  lose  his  head. 

"But,  above  all,  hard  work  is  the  thing.  For  six  years — from  1889 
to  1895 — when  I  first  took  hold  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  business,  I  did 
not  have  a  day's  vacation.  I  reached  the  office  every  morning  be- 
tween seven  and  eight  and  did  not  leave  until  six.  My  example  had 
an  influence  upon  the  others.  Carnegie  often  remarked  to  me! 
'You  do  get  work  out  of  these  fellows:'  They  worked  because  they 
saw  that  I,  then  the  chairman  of  the  company,  worked." 

This  habit  of  working  hard  was  contracted  very  early  by  Henry 
Clay  Frick — at  first  under  the  sharp-pointed  spur  of  necessity.  His 
mother  had  incurred  the  ire  of  her  father,  Abraham  Overholt,  the 
richest  man  in  western  Pennsylvania,  for  marrying  an  impecunious 
young  farmer  of  Swiss  descent,  John  W.  Frick,  when  a  money-match 
could  doubtless  have  been  arranged.     It  was  at  West  Overton,  Pa., 


134  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

that  Henry  Clay  Frick  was  born,  on  December  19,  1849.  On  bis 
parents'  small  farm,  near  by,  the  children  had  to  help  to  the  limit  of 
their  strength.  Before  he  was  eight,  little  Henry  had  learned  how  to 
drop  corn,  help  in  the  harvest  field,  tend  cattle,  and  perform  a  hundred 
varieties  of  chores.  So  badly  were  his  services  needed  in  the  earning 
of  the  family  living  that  he  was  allowed  to  go  to  school  only  in  the 
winter  months. 

"I  recall  that,  by  running  barefooted  most  of  the  year,  I  was  able 
to  make  a  pair  of  boots  last  two  winters,"  Mr.  Frick  was  not  too  proud 
to  relate  in  discussing  his  boyhood  days.  When  fourteen  he  left 
school,  w^here  he  had  not  particularly  distinguished  himself  except  by 
the  ease  with  which  he  could  prepare  his  lessons  and  his  rapidity  in 
solving  problems  in  arithmetic. 

His  first  job  was  in  a  general  country  store  in  Mt.  Pleasant,  partly 
owned  by  an  uncle,  with  whom  Henry  took  up  his  abode.  The  experi- 
ence he  gathered  in  weighing  sugar,  measuring  calico,  handling 
butter  and  eggs,  in  getting  up  early  to  sweep  out  the  store  and  to 
remove  the  tobacco  and  other  traces  left  by  the  coterie  of  village 
worthies  who  used  to  sit  around  the  stove  smoking,  chewing,  and  yarn- 
ing until  eight  or  nine  o'clock  every  night — this  experience  Mr.  Frick 
later  came  to  regard  as  "an  excellent  education." 

Even  thus  early  his  visions  went  beyond  the  narrow  sphere  of  a 
village  grocery.  His  eyes  and  his  dreams  turned  toward  Pittsburgh, 
and  before  he  was  seventeen  he  boldly  cut  the  Gordian  knot  and  set 
off  to  the  big  city,  some  fifty  miles  distant.  After  considerable  tramp- 
ing of  streets  he  found  an  opening  in  an  Allegheny  store  which  sold 
trimmings  and  other  folderols  for  women.  His  pay  was  six  dollars  a 
week,  barely  enough  to  keep  body  and  soul  together.  From  a  relative 
he  procured  a  loan  of  ^50  and  with  part  of  this  money  he  bought  his 
first  suit  of  clothes  fit  for  church-going. 

He  went  to  the  Third  Presbyterian  Church,  built  by  William  Thaw 
and  Asa  P.  Childs,  who  was  later  to  become  Mr.  Frick's  father-in-law. 
Many  years  afterward  the  trimming-store  clerk  bought  this  church 
property  and  supplied  several  million  dollars  to  erect  on  the  site  the 
William  Penn  Hotel,  equal  to  anything  New  York  can  boast. 

From  selling  lace,  under  the  direction  of  a  woman  head  of  the  de- 
partment, young  Frick  gladly  accepted  an  offer  from  a  Pittsburgh 
store,  at  eight  dollars  a  week.  Here  he  contracted  intermittent  fever 
and  had  to  go  home — not,  however,  before  he  had  greatly  impressed 
the  storekeeper,  who  begged  him  to  return,  at  a  substantial  increase 
in  pay. 

Very  wisely,  as  it  turned  out,  the  young  man  seized  an  opportunity 
to  become  bookkeeper  and  man-of-all-work  in  Grandfather  Overholt's 
flour  mill  and  distillery  at  Broad  Ford,  Pa.,  in  the  very  heart  of  the 


HENRY  C.  FRICK  135 

Connellsville  coal  region — it  had  not  then  become  a  coke  centre. 
He  riot  only  kept  the  accounts,  but  weighed  grain,  sold  flour,  measured 
lumber,  and  made  himself  generally  useful.  What  his  salary  was 
to  be  he  did  not  know;  when,  two  or  three  months  later,  he  was 
informed  he  would  receive  ^1,000  a  year  he  could  scarcely  believe 
his  ears. 

From  this  establishment,  built  on  the  river  bank,  could  be  seen 
Connellsville  coal  outcropping.  The  ^1,000  a  year  did  not  long 
satisfy  young  Frick's  ambitions.  When  there  arrived  from  the  West, 
with  money  in  his  pockets,  a  man  who  had  been  born  on  a  farm  within 
sight  of  the  Overholt  office  window,  and  who  suggested  that  money 
might  be  made  by  buying  land  and  starting  the  infant  industry  of 
cokemaking,  Frick  was  ready  to  respond — more  ready  in  mind  than 
in  pocket.  However,  Joseph  Rist,  the  newcomer,  took  a  fancy  to  the 
young  bookkeeper,  who  was  able  to  borrow  enough  to  pay  his  share 
of  the  first  instalment  on  the  land  bought.  Rist  contributed  three- 
fifths  and  Frick  and  his  cousin,  Abraham  O.  Tintsman,  who  was  man- 
aging the  flour  mill  and  distillery,  one-fifth  each.  Upon  Frick's 
shoulders,  however,  devolved  the  whole  responsibility  for  the  manage- 
ment of  the  enterprise  and  it  was  accordingly  named  Frick  &  Com- 
pany. 

One  of  his  first  duties  was  to  journey  to  Pittsburgh  and  persuade 
Judge  Mellon,  the  city's  greatest  banker,  to  lend  them  ^10,000  for 
six  months.  Frick  got  the  money — paying  interest  at  the  rate  of 
10  per  cent,  per  annum.  A  beginning  was  made  with  50  coke  ovens. 
Thus  humbly  was  inaugurated  the  career  of  the  man  who  was  to 
become  the  owner  of  virtually  the  whole  Connellsville  coke  region  and 
to  supply  coke  every  year  to  load  a  train  long  enough  to  circle  the 
globe.  But  the  climb  from  the  bottom  to  the  top,  from  50  ovens 
to  12,000  was  not  achieved  at  one  or  two  bounds,  nor  with- 
out difficulties  grave  enough  to  discourage  a  less  resolute,  less  re- 
sourceful, less  dauntless  aspirant. 

From  50  ovens  Frick  &  Company  expanded  to  100  ovens,  a  second 
loan  of  $10,000  having  been  successfully  negotiated  by  the  bookkeeper 
financier — yes,  he  still  continued  keeping  books,  handhng  flour,  and 
measuring  timber.  A  second  farm  was  purchased  and  the  erection 
of  an  additional  100  ovens  was  begun. 

Then,  like  a  thunderbolt,  came  the  1873  panic.  The  whole  country 
was  littered  with  financial  wrecks.  Both  Frick's  partners,  Rist  and 
Tintsman,  went  under  with  the  rest.  But  Frick,  young  and  inex- 
perienced though  he  was,  and  with  less  capital  than  debts,  resolved 
that  he  would  stand  up  against  the  hurricane  and  battle  it  out.  He 
staggered  Pittsburgh's  principal  banker  by  the  amount  he  wanted  to 
borrow ! 


136  MEN  WHO  ARE  mAkING  AMERICA 

And  here  let  me  relate  an  incident  conveying  a  moral  to  every 
ambitious  young  man  who  reads  this. 

Judge  Mellon  sent  a  man  (an  uncle  of  W.  E.  Corey)  to  Broad  Ford 
to  investigate  the  character  and  calibre  of  this  daring  financial  Na- 
poleon. Instead  of  finding  H.  C.  Frick  to  be  one  of  the  leading  citi- 
zens of  the  place,  living  in  sumptuous  style  and  owning  a  wealth  of 
property,  the  investigator  discovered  him  to  be  merely  a  youth  of 
twenty-four,  employed  as  a  bookkeeper  and  living,  not  in  a  mansion, 
but  in  two  small  rooms  over  a  drug  store.  Inquiry  elicited  that  the 
young  man  was  held  in  the  highest  regard,  that  his  industry  and 
ability  were  the  common  talk  of  the  place;  and  that  his  handling  of  the 
new  coke  concern  had  proved  both  able  and  successful.  Judge 
Mellon,  instead  of  feeling  disappointed  over  the  humble  circumstances 
of  the  would-be  borrower,  decided  that  a  young  man  of  such  enterprise 
and  talent  and  courage,  with  horse-sense  enough  to  live  on  a  few  dol- 
lars a  week  in  order  to  increase  his  capital,  deserved  to  be  helped. 
So  the  loan  was  granted. 

Not  only  did  Frick  buy  out  his  two  partners,  but  he  gathered  in 
other  properties  at  bankruptcy  figures.  Frick's  readiness  to  buy  or 
lease  other  coal  lands  and  coke  properties — the  whole  coke  industry 
amounted  to  only  a  few  hundred  ovens — caused  the  townspeople  to 
look  upon  him  as  a  lunatic.  Wasn't  coke  bringing  only  90  cents  a  ton, 
which  was  less  than  the  cost  of  production?  What  profit  could  there 
be  in  such  a  business.''     To  wade  in  deeper  was  sheer  madness. 

Frick  said  little  but  worked  a  lot.  "It  was  an  awful  time,"  to  use 
his  own  words.  He  borrowed  and  borrowed,  but,  though  often  kept 
awake  at  nights  wondering  how  he  could  pull  through,  never  once  did 
a  note  bearing  the  signature  "H.  C.  Frick"  go  to  protest. 

One  deal  which  he  brought  off  during  this  period  helped  him  greatly. 
With  others  he  had  built  a  lo-mile  railroad  through  the  coke  regions, 
from  Broad  Ford  to  Mt,  Pleasant,  and  had  leased  it  to  the  Baltimore 
&  Ohio.  Like  almost  everything  else,  it  was  in  trouble.  Frick  hur- 
ried and  scurried  around  securing  options  from  other  stockholders 
and  succeeded  in  selling  the  little  line  to  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  at  a 
figure  which  yielded  the  young  negotiator  nearly  ^50,000  profit — his 
first  big  killing. 

The  return  of  financial  calm  found  Frick  the  sole  owner  of  Frick  & 
Company.  Output  rose  above  50  tons  a  day  and  the  price  went 
from  ninety  cents  to  above  two  dollars;  later  (1879-80),  when  the 
boom  set  in,  coke  soared  to  above  five  dollars  a  ton,  and  every  day 
the  sun  rose  Frick  sold  over  $30,000  worth  of  the  fuel  and  pocketed  a 
net  profit  of  over  $20,000. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  Frick  had,  of  course,  given  up  his  bookkeeper's  job. 
At  first  he  sold  his  coke  through  dealers,  but  during  the  dark  days  of 


HENRY  C.  FRICK  137 

the  early  seventies  he  opened  a  little  office  in  Pittsburgh  and  attended 
to  the  selling  end  himself.  He  got  out  of  bed  every  morning  by  six 
o'clock,  set  things  in  motion  at  Broad  Ford,  visited  the  coke  ovens  and, 
most  mornings,  took  a  train  for  Pittsburgh  at  seven,  arrived  about 
ten,  worked  until  three,  returned  home  about  six  and  cleaned  up  what- 
ever needed  his  attention. 

As  business  grew  he  was  obliged  to  employ  managers  for  the  coke 
plants  and  to  go  to  Pittsburgh  to  live,  the  better  to  attend  to  the  selling 
of  the  coke  and  the  financing  of  the  business.  Every  evening,  after 
dinner,  he  went  to  the  post  office  for  his  mail,  proceeded  to  his  office, 
and  never  left  until  he  had  attended  to  every  communication.  He 
worked  more  than  a  round  of  the  clock  daily. 

Before  he  was  thirty,  Mr,  Frick  was  a  millionaire.  In  1880,  when 
thirty-one,  he  had  his  affairs  so  organized  that  he  felt  able  to  enjoy  a 
long  tour  in  Europe,  in  company  with  three  other  young  Americans. 
Happening  to  be  at  Killarney  Castle  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  they 
hoisted  on  its  flagpole  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  almost  sending  the  dis- 
tracted caretaker  out  of  her  wits — until  a  substantial  tip  mollified 
her.  Mr.  Frick  had  contrived  somehow  to  find  time  to  study  and  to 
read  fairly  extensively  and  was  able  to  "do"  Europe  intelligently. 
The  art  galleries  of  Paris  especially  impressed  him  and  sowed  in  him 
seed  which  was  to  bear  rich  fruit  for  the  American  people.  Shortly 
after  returning  home  he  met  Miss  Adelaide  Howard  Childs,  of  Pitts- 
burgh, became  engaged  in  the  summer,  and  married  her  in  December 
of  the  same  year,  1881.  Notwithstanding  that  he  was  then  wealthy, 
Mr.  Frick,  with  the  cordial  approval  of  his  bride,  did  not  set  up  an 
ostentatious  style  of  living.  For  eighteen  months  they  lived  in  one 
room  at  the  Monongahela  House  and  the  $25,000  home  which  at  the 
end  of  that  time  they  purchased  in  the  East  End,  Pittsburgh,  has 
remained,  with  some  additions,  their  Pittsburgh  home  ever  since. 

Andrew  Carnegie  and  his  partners  were  beginning  to  branch  out 
in  the  steel  industry  at  this  time  and  needed  coke  badly.  In  1882 
Frick  sold  them  a  half  interest  in  his  company.  It  then  owned  over 
1,000  ovens  and  more  than  3,000  acres  of  coal  land. 

It  was  reorganized  with  $2,000,000  capital  and  in  the  following 
year  the  amount  was  increased  to  $3,000,000  to  cope  with  the  rapidly 
expanding  organization  which  Frick  was  developing.  By  then  every- 
body recognized  what  Frick  had  known  for  years,  namely,  that  the 
coke  manufactured  from  Connellsville  coal  was  superior  to  anything 
else  in  the  country. 

Six  years  later  (1889)  the  H.  C.  Frick  Coke  Company  owned  and 
controlled  35,000  acres  of  coal  land,  almost  two-thirds  of  the  15,000 
ovens  in  the  Connellsville  region,  three  water  plants  with  a  pumping 
capacity  of  5,000,000  gallons  daily,  several  short  railroads,  and  1,200 


138  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

coke  cars.  The  number  of  men  then  in  the  employ  of  the  "H.  C.  F. 
Co."  was  ii,ooo.  The  monthly  output  was  steadily  approaching 
1,000,000  tons,  a  figure  actually  exceeded  a  few  years  later. 

The  silent,  plodding,  far-seeing  Frick  was  a  more  important,  though 
less  advertised,  factor  in  the  industrial  world  than  Carnegie.  The 
steel-maker  made  several  unsuccessful  attempts  to  induce  the  young 
genius  to  become  a  partner  in  the  Carnegie  steel  enterprise.  One 
afternoon,  in  1889,  however,  when  sitting  in  his  private  office,  Mr. 
Frick  was  told  that  Mr.  Carnegie  and  all  his  partners  were  in  the 
outer  office  anxious  to  see  him.  They  offered  the  Coke  King  a  sub- 
stantial interest  in  Carnegie  Brothers  &  Company,  Ltd.,  if  he  would 
accept  the  chairmanship.  Mr.  Frick  agreed.  He  also  became  a 
director  in  Carnegie,  Phipps  &  Company  and  resumed  the  presidency 
of  the  H.  C.  Frick  Coke  Company  which  he  had  resigned  some  time 
previously  owing  to  differences  with  Carnegie. 

Frick  was  astounded  to  find,  on  assuming  the  management,  how 
utterly  unorganized  and  chaotic  the  Carnegie  affairs  were.  He  im- 
mediately rolled  up  his  sleeves,  addressed  himself  to  the  task  of  evolv- 
ing system  out  of  disorder,  and  for  six  years  did  not  take  a  single  day's 
rest.  Astounded  to  learn  that  there  were  no  regular  meetings  of  direc- 
tors or  executives,  Frick  instituted  weekly  board  meetings  at  which, 
to  save  time,  lunch  was  served.  Managers  were  brought  to  these  meet- 
ings to  submit  statements  and  answer  questions,  and  presently  similar 
meetings  were  held  by  the  executives  at  each  plant.  The  discourage- 
ment which  reigned  before  Frick  was  called  in  to  reinvigorate  the  con- 
cern was  quickly  transformed  into  enthusiasm.  Everybody  entered 
into  the  spirit  of  the  thing,  stimulated  by  the  example  of  the  chairman, 
who  worked  hardest  of  all.  He  added  immensely  to  his  reputation 
by  acquiring,  in  1890,  the  famous  Duquesne  Mill,  a  thorn  in  the 
Carnegie  flesh,  without  the  expenditure  of  a  single  dollar — J^i,ooo,ooo 
of  bonds  were  issued  and  were  eventually  paid  for  several  times  over 
from  the  millions  of  profits. 

But  tragic  days  lay  ahead.  Mr.  Carnegie  had,  in  1885,  made  his 
first  public  address,  and  from  then  on  he  had  talked  and  written 
copiously  about  the  rights  of  labour.  His  "Triumphant  Democracy" 
became  the  labour  agitators'  Bible.  Carnegie  had  laid  down  the 
dictum  "Thou  shalt  not  take  thy  neighbour's  job,"  a  sentiment  that 
won  plaudits  wherever  labour  men  forgathered  at  home  or  abroad. 
The  effect  upon  labour  leaders,  foreseen  by  others,  became  more 
and  more  manifest  until,  in  1891,  a  strike  occurred  and  considerable 
intimidation  and  disorder  ensued.  There  had  been  labour  troubles 
before  then,  but  in  each  case  Carnegie  had  capitulated. 

The  burden  of  the  1891  ructions  fell  upon  Mr.  Frick.  During  the 
disturbances,  when  Mr.  Frick  scarcely  had  time  to  spend  an  hour 


HENRY  C.  FRICK  139 

or  two  with  his  family,  his  youngest  child,  a  beautiful  six-year-old 
girl,  fell  ill  and  died.  She  had  been  his  favourite,  and  her  death  was 
felt  all  the  more  keenly  because  Mr.  Frick  blamed  himself  for  not 
having  been  able  to  attend  her  more  constantly  during  her  fatal  illness. 

The  climax  of  the  labour  discontent  came,  as  all  the  world  knows, 
at  the  Homestead  Works  the  following  year,  1892.  Carnegie  by  then 
had  learned  by  bitter  experience  that  he  could  not  put  his  idealistic 
preachments  into  practice.  He  laid  plans  with  Frick  and  others  to 
put  the  mill  on  a  non-union  basis — and  then  skipped  off  to  the  most 
secluded  spot  he  could  find  in  Scotland  until  the  fight  should  be  over. 
Only  one  or  two  of  his  partners  knew  the  address  of  his  hiding  place. 
Frick  was  left  to  face  the  music  alone. 

What  occurred  during  the  bloodiest  labour  battle  in  the  annals  of 
America  is  too  well  known  to  call  for  recapitulation  here.  The  crea- 
tion of  a  semi-military  organization  by  the  strikers,  their  drumming 
of  the  sheriff's  representatives  out  of  the  town,  their  defiance  of 
all  local  authority,  the  mortal  combat  between  several  hundred 
Pinkerton  strikebreakers,  brought  to  the  works  on  barges,  and  thou- 
sands of  blood-thirsty  strikers  on  either  bank  of  the  river;  the  reign 
of  terror  until  the  military  took  control,  the  attempted  assassination 
of  Mr.  Frick,  his  uncompromising  refusal  to  accept  anything  short  of 
unconditional  surrender  by  the  men,  and  the  conduct  of  Carnegie — all 
are  matters  of  history. 

Even  those  who  condemned  what  they  called  Frick's  stubbornness 
could  not  deny  his  heroism.  After  the  Russian  anarchist  had  entered 
his  office  and  shot  him  through  the  ear  and  neck,  had  fired  two 
other  shots,  and  then  with  a  barbarous  stiletto  had  ripped  open  Frick's 
hip  and  leg,  wounding  him  so  grievously  that  the  doctors  despaired  of 
his  life — after  this  frightful  experience,  when  the  mob  burst  in  and 
were  about  to  shoot  the  anarchist,  Frick  commanded:  "Don't  kill 
him." 

This  clemency  of  Mr.  Frick,  reminiscent  of  that  final  scene  on 
Calvary  when  the  prayer  went  up:  "Father,  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do,"  prompted  me  to  ask  him  what  his  surging 
thoughts  were  at  that  terrible  moment. 

"I  was  as  cool  at  that  moment  as  I  am  now,"  Mr.  Frick  replied 
very  simply.     "I  had  no  desire  to  see  him  killed  or  even  ill-treated." 

When  I  questioned  Mr.  Frick  more  closely  about  his  experience 
he  confided  that  the  only  remarkable  feature  of  it  was  that,  when 
the  anarchist  pointed  at  his  head  and  fired,  he  saw  his  little  girl,  who 
had  died  the  previous  year,  standing  beside  him  as  clearly  and  as  real 
as  if  she  had  been  physically  present — indeed,  for  an  instant  her  pres- 
ence was  so  real  and  corporeal  that  he  felt  like  stretching  out  his  arms 
to  her. 


I40  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Such  was  Mr.  Frick's  physique  that  he  amazed  the  doctors  by  his 
rapid  recovery.  When  they  probed  for  the  bullet  that  had  lodged 
in  his  neck  he  gave  directions  for  the  guidance  of  the  instrument. 
His  chief  worry  was  for  his  wife,  who  was  then  ill.  To  add  to  the 
tragedy,  he  buried  a  child  born  during  the  stress  of  the  excitement. 
Tremendous  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  on  Mr.  Frick  to  reach  a 
compromise  with  the  strikers  but,  lying  on  his  back  wounded  pain- 
fully, he  declared  that  if  President  Harrison  and  all  his  cabinet  and 
Carnegie  to  boot  were  to  come  to  him  on  bended  knee  and  implore 
him  to  capitulate,  he  would  not  recede  one  inch.  Some  of  his  partners 
wailed  that  no  men  would  be  left  to  work  the  plant  when  a  settlement 
finally  came. 

"The  morning  after  the  labour  leaders  admitted  defeat  and  called 
off  the  strike,  you  could  not  get  near  the  place  for  men  crowding 
around  to  get  work,"  Mr.  Frick  told  me.  "The  vital  importance  of 
winning  that  strike  was  not  generally  realized.  We  had  reached  the 
point  where  the  men  had  become  dictators  of  how  our  business  should 
be  run.  We  could  not  promote  a  man  without  their  permission.  We 
installed  expensive  machinery  but  they  would  not  permit  it  to  be 
fully  worked.  They  restricted  output  arbitrarily  and  unreasonably. 
We  had  a  mill  that  could  produce  500  tons  a  day  but  they  would  not 
let  it  make  over  250  tons. 

"The  defeat  of  the  labour  leaders  under  such  circumstances  was  the 
best  thing,  not  only  for  the  steel  industry,  but  for  the  men  themselves. 
Their  fears  that  the  introduction  of  more  machinery  would  cause 
wholesale  unemployment  were,  of  course,  unfounded.  We  put  in  one 
contrivance  that  saved  over  400  men,  but  the  reduction  of  costs  en- 
abled us  to  employ  more  workers  than  ever  before.  Machinery,  too, 
subsequently  did  some  of  the  most  trying  work  formerly  performed 
by  hand. 

"Nobody  could  have  more  sympathy  than  I  have  for  the  poor. 
Poverty  had  been  my  own  lot,  and  knowing  from  experience  the  kind 
of  life  led  by  the  poor,  I  felt,  when  I  first  entered  the  coke  business, 
that  by  treating  workmen  properly  I  never  would  have  any  labour 
troubles.  By  the  time  the  Homestead  strike  came  I  had  learned  that 
the  more  a  certain  type  of  workmen  got,  the  more  arrogant  and  un- 
reasonable they  became.  In  the  end  they  wanted  to  run  our  busi- 
ness, to  be  dictators.     Of  course,  there  could  be  only  one  boss." 

A  happy  thought  placed  Charles  M.  Schwab  in  charge  of  the  re- 
opened works,  and  his  inimitable  good  humour,  infectious  enthusiasm, 
and  unaffected  democracy  quickly  inspired  loyalty  and  contentment 
among  the  men. 

How  guiltless  of  the  spirit  of  vindictiveness  was  Mr.  Frick,  came  to 
light  long  afterward.     It  was  discovered  by  some  one  that  he  had 


HENRY  C.  FRICK  141 

quietly  provided  for  the  families  of  several  labour  agitators  imprisoned 
for  their  lawlessness. 

Frick  resumed  his  task  of  planning  and  creating  the  most  self- 
contained  industrial  enterprise  in  the  land — with  perhaps  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Standard  Oil  Company.  He  believed  in  doing  business 
on  a  big  scale.  He  believed  in  unification,  standardization,  and  other 
policies  now  general  but  then  rare.  The  various  Carnegie  interests, 
except  coke,  were  merged  into  one  symmetrical  whole.  By  building 
the  Union  Railway,  to  join  the  scattered  works  with  one  another,  he 
regained  possession  of  the  yards  and  placed  them  on  a  better  transpor- 
tation footing  than  any  competitor. 

One  link  was  still  missing  in  the  Carnegie  chain  of  profits:  ore  had 
to  be  purchased  from  outsiders.  By  a  masterly  stroke,  conceived 
and  carried  out  against  the  outspoken  opposition  of  Andrew  Carnegie, 
Frick  acquired  a  dominating  interest  in  the  Oliver  Mining  Company 
and  thereby  obtained  an  ample  supply  of  high-grade  Bessemer  ore 
for  a  mere  song.  This  proved  one  of  Frick's  most  profitable  strata- 
gems. But  it  cost  him  the  illwill  of  Carnegie,  who  prophesied — very 
erroneously — that  the  deal  would  prove  disastrous. 

Frick,  industrially,  was  an  Alexander  the  Great.  For  him  it  was 
not  enough  to  own  all  the  coal  and  coke,  all  the  ore,  all  the  plant,  and 
all  the  local  railway  facilities  necessary  for  the  production  and  hand- 
ling of  steel  products.  Why  not  enter  the  railroad  field?  Why  pay 
millions  of  dollars  for  the  transportation  of  mountains  of  ore  from  the 
Lake  Erie  district?  Why  not  build  a  railroad  of  their  own  and  pocket 
all  the  profits?  The  Pittsburgh,  Bessemer  &  Lake  Erie  Railroad  was 
the  result.  Its  financing  was  done  by  means  of  a  bond  issue,  the  in- 
terest of  which  was  from  the  start  earned  several  times  over. 

Not  satisfied  even  then,  Frick  looked  farther  afield.  Why  pay 
huge  sums  every  year  to  steamships  for  bringing  ore  across  the  Great 
Lakes  to  the  shipping  point?  Why  not  acquire  ships  of  their  own? 
Forthwith  a  fleet  of  six  steamers  was  bought. 

Frick,  by  the  sweat  of  his  brain,  had  fulfilled  his  dream.  From  the 
moment  the  crude  ore  was  dug  from  the  earth  until  its  transformation 
into  thousands  of  finished  products,  not  a  profit  or  royalty  was  paid 
into  any  treasury  other  than  that  of  the  Carnegie  Steel  Company. 

From  earnings  of  less  than  $2,000,000  when  he  took  hold  in  1882, 
the  company's  earning  power  rose  to  $40,000,000  by  1899. 

Frick  had  become  too  big  to  suit  Mr.  Carnegie,  whose  genius  for 
picking  and  handling  brilliant  young  subordinates  was  in  distinct 
contrast  with  his  inability  to  get  along  with  his  equals.  Carnegie 
was  dictatorial;  Frick  was  stubborn,  never  afraid  of  a  fight.  In  his 
early  days  Frick  had  played  the  game  according  to  the  rules  then  in 
vogue;  it  was  not  a  Sunday-school  picnic  game,  nor  were  the  rules  those 


142  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  But  though  the  game  had  often  been 
rough,  and  weaklings  had  gone  to  the  wall,  Frick,  though  he  may  not 
have  been  suffused  with  sentiment,  had  never  been  accused  of  dishon- 
esty, doubledealing,  or  cowardly  underhandedness. 

When  the  inevitable  clash  came,  in  1899,  over  the  price  the  Carnegie 
Company  should  pay  for  Frick  coke,  Carnegie  attempted  to  drum 
Frick  out  of  the  company  on  terms  which  Frick  successfully  contested 
in  court  and  received  for  his  holdings  many  millions  more  than  Car- 
negie had  decreed. 

Into  the  pros  and  cons  of  this  epic  quarrel  I  cannot  and  need  not 
enter;  the  whole  case  occupied  columns  and  columns  of  the  news- 
papers at  the  time. 

For  years  Carnegie  was  anxious  to  get  out  of  business.  He  had 
enunciated  his  famous  creed  about  dying  disgraced  if  dying  rich.  He 
wanted  to  cash  in,  to  get  millions  which  he  could  use  as  his  fancy  sug- 
gested. Negotiations  with  English  investors  in  1S89  fell  through, 
and  so  did  a  project  hatched  by  what  was  known  as  the  Moore  Syn- 
dicate in  1899.  Henry  Phipps  and  Frick  had  been  induced  to 
put  up  $85,000  each  to  add  to  the  $1,000,000  the  Moore  Syndicate 
paid  for  its  option  to  purchase,  as  Carnegie  wanted  to  have  his  part- 
ners associated  with  the  transaction.  But  the  memorable  Flower 
panic  burst,  and  this  quashed  the  deal.  Mr.  Carnegie's  retention  of 
his  partners'  option  money,  which  they  alleged  he  had  agreed  in  ad- 
vance to  return,  made  bad  blood  between  these  two  and  Carnegie. 

When,  finally,  negotiations  were  opened  in  1901  for  the  formation 
of  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  it  was  found  necessary  to  call 
Frick  in  to  negotiate  with  the  Rockefeller  interests  for  the  purchase  of 
their  vastly  important  ore  properties  and  Great  Lake  steamers,  one 
of  the  most  profitable  acquisitions  of  the  trust. 

Mr.  Frick's  only  comment  upon  the  Carnegie  Steel  Corporation  deal 
was:  "I  never  could  have  sold  the  property  for  such  a  sum." 

"What  of  the  future.'"'  I  asked  Mr.  Frick.  "Are  we  to  see  other 
huge  combinations,  or  has  the  trust  movement  passed  its  zenith?" 

"Without  great,  powerful  organizations,  America  cannot  hope  to 
compete  successfully  with  the  world,"  replied  Mr.  Frick.  "Without 
strong  organizations  how  could  we  meet  Germany's  combinations, 
supported  and  cooperated  with  by  the  government?  To  capture 
foreign  markets  we  need  heavy  artillery.  Organization,  combina- 
tion, and  cooperation — these  are  the  essentials  to  safeguard  our 
future. 

"The  tariff?  If  we  had  a  couple  of  crop  failures  with  men  thrown 
out  of  employment  on  all  sides,  it  is  hard  to  tell  what  the  result  might 
be  if  we  had  no  adequate  means  of  insuring  tariff  protection. 

"As  for  the  farther  future,  I  don't  think  we  should  have  serious 


HENRY  C.  FRICK  143 

trouble  in  my  time  or  even  in  yours,  because  we  have  such  a  wonderful 
country  to  develop.     There  is  room  for  everybody." 

I  cannot  close  this  very  inadequate  sketch  of  Henry  Clay  Frick's 
career  without  recalling  an  incident,  very  small  in  itself,  yet  throwing 
a  suggestive  light  on  his  real  character.  Two  or  three  Christmases 
ago  a  bank  in  Pittsburgh  failed  just  before  thousands  of  children  and 
others  were  ready  to  withdraw  the  Christmas  Club  money  they  had 
saved  and  deposited  throughout  the  year.  Weeping  and  wailing 
immediately  arose.  The  whole  country  was  touched.  Then  came 
the  joyful  tidings  that  a  benefactor  had  agreed  to  pay  every  dollar 
of  this  money.  This  benefactor  turned  out  to  be  Mr.  Frick.  He 
could  not  resist  the  appeal  of  the  little  ones.  His  heart  goes  out  to 
children.  All  that  he  does  for  them  no  one  save  himself  knows. 
Every  check  used  for  such  purposes  bears  a  picture  of  the  little 
daughter  he  lost. 

Mr.  Frick's  large  fortune  is  not  to  be  disposed  of  after  the  Vander- 
bilt  and  Astor  plan.  "I  do  not  believe  in  leaving  children  a  great 
many  millions  of  dollars,"  Mr.  Frick  told  me.  *'0f  course,  I  shall 
provide  very  amply  for  my  son  and  also  for  my  daughter — but  she 
will  receive  no  notoriety  as  one  of  America's  'richest  heiresses.'  The 
American  people  are  fond — and  properly  so — of  going  to  Europe, 
chiefly  to  see  the  famous  paintings  and  other  works  of  art  there.  I 
have  tried  to  bring  some  of  them  here,  and  will  leave  the  whole  collec- 
tion, along  with  my  home  and  the  additions  I  am  building  to  it,  for 
the  benefit  of  the  people." 

Mr.  Frick's  chief  reason  for  explaining  this  to  me  was  to  apologize 
for  living  amid  what  he  called  "such  apparent  luxury."  He  is  one 
of  the  most  unostentatious  of  men.  Incidentally,  the  memorable 
French  mission,  headed  by  ex-Premier  Viviani  and  Marshal  JofFre, 
which  visited  the  United  States  in  the  spring  of  1917,  was  graciously 
permitted  to  use  Mr.  Frick's  residence  as  its  headquarters  while 
staying  in  New  York. 

I  would  rank  H.  C.  Frick  as  one  of  the  six  greatest  business  men  in 
the  country. 


ELBERT  H.  GARY 

NEXT  to  the  presidency  of  the  United  States,  the  biggest  job 
in  America  is  the  chairmanship  of  the  United  States  Steel 
Corporation. 

Elbert  Henry  Gary  is  the  head  of  a  corporate  empire  greater  in 
income,  resources,  and  area  than  the  average  European  nation. 

Its  gross  receipts  in  1916  reached  i?  1,23 0,000,000,  exceeding  the 
normal  revenue  of  the  United  States  Government. 

It  has  an  industrial  army  of  275,000  men,  or  more  than  the  American 
army  and  navy  combined,  more  than  the  entire  regular  and  volunteer 
force  engaged  in  the  Spanish-American  War,  enough  to  plant  one  man 
every  mile  between  the  earth  and  the  moon  and  leave  enough  to 
girdle  the  earth  with  human  milestones.  Standing  side  by  side,  the 
solid  line  would  stretch  a  hundred  miles. 

The  corporation's  payroll  this  year  will  total  some  $320,000,000. 
Since  its  organization,  in  1901,  it  has  paid  ^^2, 500,000,000  in  Wages. 

It  has  a  fleet  of  over  100  steamers,  which,  drawn  up,  would  form 
an  unbroken  line  ten  miles  in  length,  a  greater  array  than  the  navy 
of  any  second-rate  Power. 

Its  own  railroad  system,  straightened  out,  would  stretch  from  San 
Francisco  to  New  York  and  project  several  hundreds  of  miles  into  the 
Atlantic.  Yet  it  pays  in  freight  charges  to  other  railroads  $3,000,000 
every  week  of  the  year.  Its  freight  bill  in  sixteen  years  has  aggre- 
gated $1,800,000,000. 

It  mines  as  much  coal  as  the  greatest  of  America's  coal  companies 
and  makes  over  a  million  barrels  of  cement  every  month. 

It  has  122,000  stockholders,  who  in  1917  will  receive  perhaps 
$70,000,000  in  dividends.  Since  organization  $433,700,000  has  been 
paid  on  the  preferred  stock,  while  common  stockholders  have  received 
fully  $305,000,000,  or  more  than  half  the  amount  of  stock  outstand- 
ing. 

Employees  have  been  given  the  privilege  of  subscribing  for  357,000 
preferred  and  268,000  common  shares  on  which  special  bonuses  are 
paid. 

The  corporation's  original  total  capital  of  $1,400,000,000  was  equal 
to  two-thirds  of  all  the  money  then  in  circulation  in  the  United  States. 
If  it  had  been  all  paid  in  gold  the  weight  would  have  been  2,330  tons; 

144 


E.  H.  GARY 


ELBERT  H.  GARY  145 

in  dollar  bills  it  would  have  circled  the  earth  six  times  with  enough 
left  to  stretch  from  northernmost  Alaska  to  Cape  Horn. 

Its  assets  exceed  ^2,ooo,ooo,cxdo. 

Not  less  than  $7,ooo,cxx)  is  spent  annually  on  welfare  work  to  make 
employees  healthier,  happier,  safer,  and,  therefore,  more  ejfficient. 

Allowing  five  to  a  family,  the  Corporation  supports  1,400,000  per- 
sons, twice  the  population  of  Boston. 

It  has  industrial  ambassadors  or  consuls  in  sixty  countries. 

It  has  some  sixty  subsidiaries,  and  twenty  corporation  presidents 
serve  as  the  aides  of  the  chief  executive. 

Yet  the  man  who  presides  over  this  unparalleled  enterprise  is  never 
flustered,  never  excited,  never  confused.  He  is  master  of  his  job; 
indeed,  his  associates  agree  that  there  is  no  job  in  America  better 
filled  and  that  no  job  will  be  harder  to  fill  when  he  retires. 

There  is  nothing  of  the  autocrat  in  Judge  Gary's  make-up.  He  is 
human — humane.  He  often  smiles — his  smile  is  famous;  he  seldom 
frowns.  There  are  no  hard  lines  in  his  face  and  his  blue  eyes  are 
kindly. 

His  office,  on  the  seventeenth  floor  of  71  Broadway,  is  hung  with 
autographed  photographs  of  men  who  have  played  foremost  parts  in 
making  America.     These  breathe  a  friendly  atmosphere. 

Let  me  relate  an  illuminating  incident. 

J.  P.  Morgan  was  in  Europe. 

Times  were  bad — it  was  in  1909.  Prices  were  falling,  orders  were 
dwindling,  wages  were  being  reduced  all  over  the  country.  The  Steel 
Corporation  directors  concluded  that  they  must  follow  the  general 
trend  by  cutting  wages.  Action  was  proposed  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Finance  Committee.  Many  favoured  the  step.  Judge  Gary  was 
uncompromisingly  opposed. 

"I  move,"  interposed  Judge  Gary,  when  he  saw  how  the  discussion 
was  going,  "that  we  postpone  action  for  a  week,"  and  this  was  agreed 
to. 

Mr.  Morgan,  before  sailing,  had  said  to  Judge  Gary:  "If  you  want 
me  to  do  anything  while  I  am  away,  cable  me." 

Judge  Gary  hated  to  bother  Mr.  Morgan,  but  the  welfare  of  the 
workmen  lay  near  the  Judge's  heart.  He  cabled  Mr.  Morgan  a  re- 
quest to  see  two  prominent  members  of  the  committee  travelling  in 
Europe  and  then  cable  a  recommendation  on  the  part  of  the  three 
that  wages  be  maintained. 

Mr.  Morgan  acted  with  his  customary  promptitude  and  effective- 
ness. He  summoned  the  directors  then  vacationing  in  Europe  and, 
with  his  characteristically  persuasive  powers,  which  few  men  could 
withstand,  secured  their  vote. 

Back  came  the  cable  the  Judge  wanted,  and  when  the  proposal  next 


146  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

came  up  It  was  defeated.  The  day  was  won  for  the  workmen,  and 
the  courageous  stand  taken  by  the  Steel  Corporation  had  such  an 
inspiriting  effect  upon  sentiment  that  general  industry  soon  revived. 

This  Httle  incident,  heretofore  unpublished,  gives  a  better  insight 
than  anything  else  I  know  of  into  Judge  Gary,  the  man,  the  true  friend 
of  the  workingman,  the  humanitarian. 

Judge  Gary  did  more  than  any  other  "Big  Business"  captain  to 
bring  about  the  renaissance  in  the  attitude  of  corporations  toward  the 
public.  Ten  years  ago,  condemning  the  high-handed,  secretive  on- 
goings of  financial  and  Industrial  leaders,  he  said  publicly:  "All  this 
must  be  stopped  by  the  rich  themselves  or  the  mob  will  stop  it.  There 
would  have  been  neither  growth  nor  spread  of  antagonism  to  capital 
unless  there  had  been  something  to  justify  it." 

Judge  Gary  could  afford  to  speak  out. 

He  was  the  most  powerful  pioneer  for  corporation  publicity  America 
had  known.  He  Inaugurated  the  publication  of  monthly  statements 
years  before  the  agitation  for  publicity  became  a  force.  His  annual 
reports  were  models  of  lucidity  and  detail — so  much  so  that  they  were 
adopted  by  German  colleges  as  standard. 

His  fairness  toward  labour  from  the  very  start  was  revolutionary. 
In  this  he  encountered  tremendous  opposition  from  his  own  directors. 

"The  only  way  to  deal  with  labour  is,  whenever  It  shows  Its  head, 
hit  It,"  declared  one  very  influential  director  at  an  early  board  meet- 

"Then  you  will  have  to  engage  someone  else  to  do  the  hitting," 
was  the  ultimatum  Judge  Gary  flung  back. 

The  principles  he  laid  down  for  treating  competitors  were  also 
scoffed  at  by  old-school  capitalists  as  Utopian. 

Because  Judge  Gary  refused  to  squeeze  buyers  when  a  boom  brought 
a  steel  famine,  these  same  old-school  financiers  were  convinced  that 
they  had  picked  an  Idealist  Instead  of  a  practical  man,  and  some  of 
them  sighed  over  the  millions  his  new  fanatical  notions  were  costing 
the  corporation. 

Elbert  H.  Gary,  however,  stuck  heroically  to  his  guns.  "This  cor- 
poration Is  so  big  that,  unless  you  deal  fairly  with  the  public,  with 
competitors,  and  with  customers,  you  are  bound  to  encounter  trouble 
sooner  or  later,"  he  told  the  directors  once  and  again. 

And  what  has  been  the  result? 

When  the  United  States  Government  brought  suit  to  dissolve  the 
corporation  as  a  "bad  trust"  It  scoured  the  whole  country  for  wit- 
nesses to  testify  against  it.  Yet  not  one  rival,  not  one  customer,  not 
one  employee,  not  one  member  of  the  public  came  forward  with  one 
word  against  it!  The  only  complaints  made  were  by  lawyers  and 
others  in  the  pay  of  the  Government. 


ELBERT  H.  GARY  147 

Mr.  Schwab,  testifying  in  the  Government's  suit  against  the  Steel 
Corporation,  made  this  exphcit  statement  when  questioned  about 
steel  pools: 

"To  the  best  of  my  knowledge  Judge  Gary  did  not  have  anything 
to  do  with  these  pools.  He  was  opposed  to  them.  When  I  was 
president  of  the  Steel  Corporation,  one  of  the  things  that  I  had  to 
contend  with  was  Judge  Gary's  opposition  to  these  things  that  I  had 
been  so  long  accustomed  to." 

All  opposition  to  Judge  Gary's  above-board  methods  of  conducting 
the  corporation  long  since  ceased.  The  idealist  had  proved  the  worth 
of  his  Utopian  policies! 

Judge  Gary  has  always  insisted  that  the  success  of  the  corporation 
has  been  due  to  the  splendid  ability  of  the  Finance  Committee  and 
the  Board  of  Directors,  but  his  associates,  with  more  truth,  declare 
that  the  policies  and  labours  of  the  chairman  have  been  the  main 
factor. 

No  stock  ticker  encumbers  Judge  Gary's  office.  He  frowns  upon 
speculation  and  never  indulges  in  it  himself.  In  the  early  days  the 
steel  directors'  meetings  were  held  at  noon  and  some  of  the  men  who 
were  then  on  the  Board  used  to  plunge  heavily,  using  their  inside 
information  to  hoodwink  the  pubHc.  However,  that  is  a  thing  of  the 
past. 

The  meetings  of  the  Finance  Committee  are  now  held  at  two  o'clock 
and  then  for  the  first  time  the  quarterly  statements,  showing  earnings, 
are  produced.  Soon  after  they  are  given  to  the  Board  of  Directors 
and  then  to  the  public,  so  that  no  director  has  any  advantage  over 
any  other  stockholder. 

"Looking  back,  what  gives  you  the  greatest  satisfaction  in  your 
whole  life's  work?"  I  asked  Judge  Gary. 

He  sat  silent  for  a  moment,  apparently  letting  his  mind  run  back 
through  the  years. 

"If  I  were  to  point  to  just  one  thing,"  he  replied  very  deliberately, 
"I  would  say  it  has  been  securing  the  friendship  and  confidence  of 
the  large  majority  of  our  great  family  of  employees.  Yes,"  nodded 
the  Judge,  more  to  himself  than  to  me,  "that  has  been  most  worth 
while  achieving.  That  yields  more  real  satisfaction  than  anything 
else  in  my  life." 

"And  what  would  you  name  next?"  I  asked. 

"Axssisting  to  bring  about  a  friendly  and  cooperative  spirit  amongst 
the  iron  and  steel  fraternity,  for  this  has  resulted  in  eliminating  the 
old  methods  of  unreasonable  and  destructive  competition  which  not 
only  did  so  much  to  demoralize  the  steel  business  in  times  of  depression 
and  to  drive  into  bankruptcy  many  connected  with  it,  but  periodically 
had  a  disastrous  effect  upon  the  general  business  of  the  country,  to 


148  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

say  nothing  of  the  hardships  and  idleness  it  brought  upon  the  work- 
men." 

Henry  C.  Emory,  former  Professor  of  Political  Science  of  Yale 
and  Chairman  of  the  United  States  Tariff  Board  under  President 
Taft,  in  course  of  an  analysis  of  Judge  Gary's  services  to  America 
says: 

"What  I  have  chiefly  in  mind  in  this  regard  is  the  treatment  of 
stockholders.  I  spoke  of  him  as  the  author  of  the  'open  door'  policy. 
Few  people  realize  what  a  dramatic  thing  was  the  first  publication 
of  the  quarterly  statement  of  the  aff'airs  of  that  corporation.  Power- 
ful men  protested  that  the  public  had  no  right  to  know.  Gary  in- 
sisted that  100,000  stockholders  had  a  right  to  know  about  their  own 
property  and  that  he  proposed  to  tell  them.  Some  thought  it  a  bluflF; 
that  when  the  lean  quarters  came  the  Judge  would  not  dare  to  print 
the  facts.  They  didn't  know  the  man  or  his  indifference  to  the  men 
who  hang  around  the  ticker.  Fat  years  or  lean,  whether  the  common 
stock  sold  for  $10  or  $100,  the  facts  as  to  the  condition  of  the  com- 
pany have  been  revealed  every  three  months.  The  adoption  of  such 
a  policy  of 'pitiless  publicity'  was  as  much  a  landmark  in  our  indus- 
trial history  as  the  organization  of  the  great  merger  itself — more  so, 
in  fact.  We  have  heard  much  recently  of  the  necessity  of  doing  away 
with  'secret  diplomacy'  after  this  war  is  over.  By  this  action  toward 
his  stockholders  and  the  public  Judge  Gary  dealt  a  historic  blow  to 
the  policy  of  secret  diplomacy  in  corporation  finance." 

A  witty  chronicler  once  said:  "Elbert  H.  Gary  was  born  a  bare- 
foot boy."  That  was  both  true  and  untrue.  On  his  father's  farm 
where  he  came  into  the  world,  in  1 848,  in  Du  Page  County,  twenty-five 
miles  west  of  Chicago,  the  boy  Gary  did  sometimes  run  about  without 
shoes  or  stockings,  but  from  choice,  not  necessity.  His  father,  an 
upright,  rigid  New  Englander,  by  hard  work,  carefulness,  and  frugality 
earned  more  than  enough  to  clothe  his  family.  He  was  a  sternly 
practical  man.  His  growing  children  were  given  the  choice  between 
study  and  work.  Elbert  preferred  school  to  chores,  with  which  he 
had  extensive  first-hand  acquaintance. 

Curiously,  the  holding  of  blackboard  races  in  arithmetic  by  his 
teacher  shaped  young  Gary's  career.  One  day  an  uncle,  H.  F.  Val- 
lette,  a  lawyer  of  local  note,  visited  the  Garys,  and  the  father,  proud 
of  his  boy's  mathematical  ability,  arranged  a  competition  between 
the  two.  Elbert  won.  And  the  uncle,  as  a  reward,  offered  him  a 
place  in  his  office  at  Naperville  to  read  law.  The  father's  verdict  was: 
"Some  day  Elbert  may  have  a  little  property  and  a  knowledge  of  the 
law  may  help  him  to  keep  it." 

He  attended  Wheaton  College,  taught  school  in  the  country  during 
two  winters,  then  entered  his  uncle's  law  office  for  eighteen  months. 


ELBERT  H.  GARY  149 

went  to  Chicago  as  a  student  and,  at  twenty,  graduated  from  the 
law  department  of  Chicago  University.  He  got  a  job  at  $12  per  week 
with  the  Clerk  of  the  Courts  in  Cook  County,  having  been  recom- 
mended by  the  head  of  the  law  school  as  the  most  promising  grad- 
uate of  the  year.  He  proved  himself  capable,  and  by  and  by  rose 
to  the  highest  position  in  the  office.  His  uncle  then  took  him  into 
his  Chicago  office. 

The  day  after  the  great  Chicago  fire  young  Gary  hired  a  room  in  a 
wooden  building  and  hung  up  a  lawyer's  sign. 

He  made  $2,800  in  the  first  year. 

His  ambition  was  to  become  a  judge.  By  way  of  gaining  standing 
and  influence  he  became  the  first  Mayor  of  Wheaton.  He  did  not 
have  long  to  wait  to  realize  his  ambition:  he  was  duly  elected  a  County 
Judge. 

Some  time  after  this  he  became  interested  in  iron  and  steel,  as  he 
foresaw  the  world  was  entering  the  steel  age.  On  leaving  the  bench 
he  became  attorney  for  several  corporations,  though  retaining  his 
general  practice.  Even  in  those  early  days  (1891)  he  contracted  the 
combination  habit.  Through  his  instrumentality,  several  plants 
were  rolled  into  the  Consolidated  Steel  &  Wire  Company  of  Illinois,  a 
$4,000,000  concern,  then  regarded  as  a  veritable  leviathan.  More 
mills  were  secured  seven  years  later  and  the  enlarged  enterprise  was 
incorporated  as  the  American  Steel  &  Wire  Company,  with  $12,000,000 
capital. 

Gary  realized  very  clearly  that  combination  meant  strength.  He 
evolved  the  theory  that  if  he  could  combine  all  the  units  of  iron  and 
steel  manufacture  and  transportation  into  a  single  management,  enor- 
mous economies  could  be  effected,  unprecedented  efficiency  could  be 
attained,  and,  as  a  corollary,  handsome  dividends  earned. 

He  had  already  become  a  factor  in  the  Illinois  Steel  Company  and 
was  on  its  board.  He  advocated  the  formation  of  a  huge  consolida- 
tion which  would  comprise  the  Illinois  Steel  Company;  the  Minnesota 
Iron  Company,  which  owned  the  mines;  the  Lorain  Steel  Company, 
which  had  works  on  Lake  Erie  in  Ohio;  the  Minnesota  Steamship 
Company,  which  would  supply  the  water  transportation;  the  Duluth 
and  Iron  Range  Railroad,  which  would  carry  the  ore  to  the  lake;  the 
Elgin,  Joliet  and  Eastern  Railway  and  the  Mt.  Pleasant  Coal  and 
Coke  Company  of  Pennsylvania. 

Along  with  Robert  Bacon,  then  a  member  of  J.  P.  Morgan  & 
Co.,  Judge  Gary  created  the  famous  Federal  Steel  Company,  the 
$200,000,000  corporation  which  caused  both  America  and  Europe 
to  rub  eyes.  Mr.  Morgan  was  fond  of  declaring  that  this  was  a  bigger 
industrial  and  financial  feat  than  the  subsequent  organization  of  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation. 


150  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Mr.  Morgan  sent  for  Judge  Gary  and  told  him  that,  of  course, 
there  was  only  one  man  fitted  to  take  charge  of  the  combination. 

The  Judge  replied  that  he  didn't  care  for  the  job. 

"Why?"  demanded  Mr.  Morgr.n. 

The  Judge  explained  that  he  was  making  more  than  $75,000  a  year 
from  his  law  business  InChIcago,that  his  Income  was  steadily  growing, 
and  that  he  was  not  anxious  to  leave  Chicago. 

"We  expect  to  pay  you  for  coming  here,"  bluntly  replied  the 
banker.  "You  can  name  your  own  salary — anything  you  want — 
and  for  any  number  of  years  you  want." 

Finally  Judge  Gary  agreed  to  go  for  three  years,  at  $100,000  a 
year,  until  then  the  highest  salary  on  record. 

'*I  expected  to  return  to  Chicago  at  the  end  of  the  three  years," 
said  the  Judge  not  long  ago,  "but  here  I  am." 

How  the  Steel  Corporation  came  to  be  formed  Is  this: 

One  day  Charles  M.  Schwab,  the  brightest  of  all  Carnegie's  proteges, 
approached  Mr.  Bacon  and  intimated  that  Carnegie  might  be  per- 
suaded to  sell  out.  Mr.  Bacon  promptly  went  to  Judge  Gary,  the 
central  figure  In  the  great  Federal  Steel  merger. 

The  first  time  Judge  Gary  broached  the  matter  to  Mr.  Morgan,  the 
latter  was  unresponsive.  A  dinner  was  given  shortly  afterward  by 
the  late  J.  Edward  Simmons,  president  of  the  Fourth  National  Bank, 
in  honour  of  Mr.  Schwab,  and  It  was  on  that  historic  occasion  that 
Schwab,  with  irresistible  eloquence  and  optimism,  painted  steel  rain- 
bows.    Mr.  Morgan,  who  was  present,  was  Impressed. 

Next  morning  Mr.  Morgan  sent  for  Judge  Gary.  He  was  Interested 
but  said  he  would  do  nothing  until  he  first  received  an  assurance 
that  Carnegie  would  sell.  However,  he  spent  several  hours  with  the 
Judge  going  over  the  posslbliltles  of  the  proposition.  The  desired 
assurance  from  Carnegie  was  in  time  forthcoming,  and  the  machinery 
for  forming  the  greatest  business  organization  the  world  has  ever 
known  was  set  in  motion. 

Much  has  been  said  and  written  about  the  "Gary  dinners."  It 
was  the  panic  of  1907  that  started  them.  The  first  was  held  in  the 
dark  days  of  November  of  that  year  when  the  financial  heavens  were 
falling  and  industry  was  prostrate. 

Instead  of  cut-throat  competition,  unbridled  demoralization  and 
wholesale  discharge  of  employees,  it  was  there  and  then  resolved  to 
act  unitedly  In  an  effort  to  stay  the  panic.  Committees  were  ap- 
pointed covering  every  branch  of  the  iron  and  steel  industry,  and,  to 
make  a  long  story  short,  prices  were  steadied,  bankruptcy-breeding 
tactics  were  checked,  and  order  evolved  out  of  chaos  and  threatened 
ruin. 

Whether  this  was  technically  legal  or  illegal,  I  do  not  pretend  to 


ELBERT  H.  GARY  151 

Judge.  But  I  do  know  that  the  results  for  business,  for  labour,  and 
for  the  country  as  a  whole  were  invaluable.  As  soon  as  the  Ad- 
ministration intimated  opposition  to  these  gatherings  (in  191  iX 
they  were  discontinued. 

E.  N.  Hurley,  then  vice-president  of  the  Federal  Trade  Commission, 
in  making  an  eloquent  appeal  for  cooperation  at  the  191 6  dinner 
of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  proudly  proclaimed  that  the  com- 
mission had  recommended  the  passage  of  a  bill  removing  all  legal 
restraint  of  cooperation  and  combination  among  manufacturers  to 
build  up  foreign  trade.  His  peroration  was  a  rousing  appeal  for  such 
cooperation. 

When  the  deafening  applause  had  subsided  Judge  Gary,  who  was 
presiding,  rose  and  said:  "'Do  I  sleep,  do  I  dream,  or  are  visions 
about?'  I  could  close  my  eyes  and  imagine  I  was  attending  one  of 
the  old-fashioned  Gary  dinners.  If  cooperation  is  wise  in  respect 
to  export  business,  why  is  it  not  a  good  principle  with  reference  to 
domestic  business?" 

Was  there  ever  neater  retort? 

The  esteem  in  which  Judge  Gary  is  held  by  the  steel  trade  was 
demonstrated  by  a  notable  tribute  paid  him  by  competitors  and  cus- 
tomers at  a  complimentary  dinner  given  in  his  honour  in  1909  by  the 
independent  iron  and  steel  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  and 
Canada. 

It  was  not  the  presentation  to  him  of  an  enormous  solid  gold  loving 
cup  that  made  the  occasion  memorable  in  steel  annals.  It  was  the 
character  of  the  gathering  and  the  tenor  of  the  addresses  delivered. 
Here  were  chiefs  of  rival  concerns  paying  a  unique  tribute  to  the  head 
of  the  most  powerful  rival  of  them  all.  And  they  spoke  of  him,  not 
as  a  foe,  not  even  merely  as  a  friend,  but  as  a  father,  the  far-seeing, 
beneficent  father  and  counsellor  of  them  all.  It  was  on  this  occasion 
that  Mr.  Schwab,  the  first  president  of  the  corporation,  magnani- 
mously admitted  that  in  his  differences  with  Judge  Gary  the  latter 
had  always  been  right  and  he  (Schwab)  wrong. 

"I  am  thankful  for  this  opportunity  of  saying  one  thing.  Judge," 
said  Mr.  Schwab.  "You  and  I  have  been  associated  in  business,  or 
we  were,  for  some  years;  we  have  had  many  differences,  and  I  am 
glad  of  this  opportunity  to  say  publicly  that  with  my  bounding  en- 
thusiasm and  optimism  I  was  wrong  in  most  instances — indeed,  in  all 
instances — and  you  were  right.  The  broad  principles  that  you 
brought  into  this  business  were  new  to  all  of  us  who  had  been  trained 
in  a  somewhat  different  school.  .  .  .  This,  sir,  is  the  first  time 
in  the  history  of  the  industry  when  the  great  heads  of  all  the  big  con- 
cerns in  the  United  States  and  Canada  have  gathered  to  do  honour 
to  a  man  who  has  introduced  a  new  and  successful  principle  In  our 


152  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

great  industry.  Judge  Gary,  you  should  be  a  very  happy  man 
to-night." 

It  was  on  this  occasion,  too,  that  Mr.  Morgan  made  one  of  the 
extremely  few  speeches  of  his  lifetime. 

He  was  so  overcome  by  emotion  and  nervousness  that,  to  hold  him- 
self up,  he  grasped  the  back  of  his  chair  with  one  hand  and  leaned 
upon  the  shoulder  of  another  diner.  Before  he  sat  down,  tears  were 
trickling  down  his  cheeks  and  he  whispered  to  his  friend  that,  had 
he  not  leaned  upon  him,  he  never  would  have  been  able  to  remain  on 
his  feet.  Mr.  Morgan's  speech  contained  one  touching  sentence. 
The  speech  is  perhaps  worth  giving  in  full: 

"I  wish  it  were  in  my  power  to  say  all  that  I  would  like  to  say  on 
this  occasion.  What  I  might  say  at  another  time  would  be  pretty 
poor,  but  to-night  I  am  very  much  overcome  by  all  that  I  have  heard 
said,  for  Judge  Gary  and  I  have  been  working  together  now  for  ten 
years  in  a  way  perhaps  none  of  you  appreciate,  or  how  much  it  has 
meant  to  me.  I  feel  as  though  zve  were  all  just  together.  It  is  impossi- 
ble for  me  to  say  more,  and  I  must  ask  you  to  accept  my  appreciation 
of  how  deeply  I  feel  for  the  kind  evidence  of  your  sentiments  toward 
me  to-night.  Gentlemen,  let  me  ask  you  to  excuse  me  from  saying 
more." 

Judge  Gary  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  effective 
public  speakers  in  the  country.  Indeed,  the  addresses  of  no  private 
citizen  attract  more  universal  attention.  He  does  not  indulge  in 
flights  of  high-falutin'  oratory;  it  is  the  worth,  the  weight,  the  wisdom 
of  what  he  says  that  commands  the  respect  of  all  classes,  rich  and 
poor,  capitalists  and  workmen. 

During  a  visit  to  the  Orient  in  1916  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gary  received 
a  reception  such  as  is  usually  reserved  for  royalty.  How  much  he  then 
accomplished  in  fostering  goodwill  between  the  Orient  and  the 
United  States  cannot  easily  be  gauged.  His  friendly  attitude,  his 
frank  utterances,  his  full  understanding  of  these  often-misjudged 
peoples  did  much  to  dispel  misconception  and  to  pave  the  way  for 
warmer  international  relations  in  the  future.  He  followed  up  his 
"unofficial  diplomatic  visit,"  so  to  speak,  with  a  series  of  magazine 
articles  which  further  contributed  to  drawling  together  the  Oriental 
nations  and  the  United  States  in  bonds  of  friendship  and  respect. 

Judge  Gary  is  married  but  has  no  son  to  fill  his  shoes. 

The  Judge  can  seldom  be  persuaded  to  talk  of  his  part  in  the  up- 
building of  the  greatest  industrial  enterprise  mankind  has  ever  known, 
hence  most  of  the  facts  here  set  forth  have  had  to  be  collected  from 
the  published  records,  from  his  intimates,  and  from  personal  knowledge 
covering  almost  the  entire  life  of  the  corporation. 


iiiii 

WILLIAM  A.  GASTON 


WILLIAM  A.  GASTON 

A  GROUP  of  notable  Americans,  all  self-made  but  one,  were 
patting  themselves  on  the  back.  Each  was  telling  how  poor 
he  was  at  the  start,  how  hard  he  worked — and,  well,  here  he 
was  to-day,  something  very  big  that  had  grown  from  nothing. 

The  one  man  of  wealthy  parentage  listened  politely  to  the  recital. 
Then  he  blurted  out:  "You  fellows  worked  because  you  had  to. 
It  was  a  case  with  you  of  work  or  starve.  I  didn't  need  to  do  a  stroke 
of  work  unless  I  wanted  to.  As  you  know,  my  family  had  money. 
But  I  have  worked  just  as  hard  as  any  of  you,  not  from  necessity, 
but  from  choice.     You  had  no  alternative.     I  had." 

William  A.  Gaston,  head  of  the  largest  financial  institution  east  of 
New  York,  was  not  the  man  who  said  this.  But  he  might  have  been. 
Instead  of  selecting  the  primrose  path  of  ease,  he  chose  to  enter  the 
lists  and  win  his  own  spurs.  Instead  of  contenting  himself  with 
being  an  onlooker,  he  decided  to  become  a  doer. 

He  has  succeeded.  Colonel  Gaston  has  won  recognition  and  high 
place,  not  in  one  line  of  endeavour,  but  in  three — and  the  end  is  not 
yet.  He  first  distinguished  himself  as  a  lawyer;  then  as  a  business 
man  and  corporation  executive;  later  as  a  banker  and  financier.  He 
has  also  rendered  useful  service  in  civic  and  political  life,  and  his 
intimates  prophesy  that  he  is  destined  to  make  his  mark  as  a  states- 
man. 

There  is  none  of  the  proverbial  Bostonian  haughtiness  about 
^*  Billy"  Gaston.  He  is  democratic  not  only  in  politics,  but  in  person. 
John  L.  Sullivan  is  just  as  real  a  friend  as  Theodore  Roosevelt,  his 
second  at  Harvard  when  young  Gaston,  in  a  memorable  fight,  won 
the  middleweight  boxing  championship  of  his  university  in  days 
when  boxing  meant  hard  fighting. 

Nearly  all  successful  business  men  possess  fighting  qualities. 
Commodore  Vanderbilt  was  a  fighter.  Harriman,  Hill,  and  Morgan 
were  fighters.  Men  who  aspire  to  do  big  things  must  have  daring, 
must  have  courage,  must  have  self-confidence.  They  must  be  pre- 
pared to  accept  risks.  They  must  exhibit  boldness  when  others 
show  timidity. 

Gaston's  valour  did  not  forsake  him  when  he  left  college.  He 
carried  it  with  him  into  his  business  life.  And  New  England  once 
had  reason  to  be  grateful  that  he  did.  During  the  1907  panic,  when 
industrial  foundations  became  as  quicksand  and  the  strongest  of 

IS3 


IS4  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

enterprises  became  shaky,  William  A.  Gaston  stepped  to  the  front 
and  fought  to  check  the  debacle.  It  will  be  recalled  that  hundreds  of 
banks  throughout  the  country  began  to  scramble  for  gold,  while 
business  men  were  harshly  ordered  to  pay  off  loans,  and  influential 
city  financial  institutions  acted  panicky,  hoarding  their  specie  like 
misers  and  dunning  borrowers  to  pay  up  instantly  at  any  cost. 

Gaston  had  not  been  many  months  in  the  banking  business  when 
this  occurred.  But  the  courage  he  showed  in  his  college  days  and 
later  at  the  bar  and  in  business  again  distinguished  his  conduct. 
Instead  of  following  the  stampede,  he  adopted  the  historic  policy 
pursued  by  the  Bank  of  England  in  times  of  grave  crises  and  used  his 
resources  freely,  encouraging  others  to  meet  the  panic  with  confidence. 

Many  New  England  institutions  looked  to  the  National  Shawmut 
Bank,  the  largest  in  the  New  England  field,  for  a  cue  as  to  what 
course  should  be  followed.  Some  of  the  bank's  directors  urged  that 
self-preservation  was  the  first  law  of  finance  as  of  life  and  that  the 
institution  should  look  out  for  number  one.  President  Gaston  had 
larger  and  less  cowardly  ideas  of  banking  and  of  his  responsibilities. 
On  November  15,  when  the  demoralization  was  at  its  height,  he  sent 
out  the  following  letter  to  every  bank  in  the  country  having  relations 
with  the  Shawmut,  counselling  calmness,  courage,  and  financial 
boldness: 

"Dear  Sir: — In  the  period  of  such  stringency  of  the  money  market 
as  we  are  now  experiencing,  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the 
banks  shall  renew,  so  far  as  it  lies  in  their  power,  the  notes  which 
may  be  maturing  of  merchants  and  manufacturers  and  others  who 
are  worthy  of  credit. 

"In  many  cases  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  perfectly  solvent  busi- 
ness houses  either  to  borrow  new  money  or  to  collect  their  receivables, 
which  ordinarily  are  paid,  or  to  sell  their  merchandise,  and  if  they  are 
forced  unnecessarily  by  the  banks  to  pay  their  notes,  bankruptcy  or 
receivership  is  sure  to  follow. 

"In  order  to  restore  business  affairs  to  a  normal  state,  a  general 
liquidation  of  business  must  take  place.  This,  we  believe,  every 
merchant  is  attempting  to  do  to  the  extent  of  his  ability,  but  the 
banks  and  trust  companies  must,  in  our  opinion,  do  their  share  by 
extending  maturing  notes  in  w^hole  or  in  part.  The  fewer  the  number 
of  solvent  merchants  who  are  forced  to  pay  their  debts  where  it 
means  hardship,  the  fewer  the  failures,  and,  consequently,  the  sooner 
a  restoration  of  confidence  and  a  normal  condition  of  the  money 
market  will  ensue. 

"We  therefore  urge  you,  as  far  as  is  in  your  power,  to  help  the 
serious  mercantile  situation  in  this  way." 


WILLIAM  A.  GASTON  155 

I  emphasize  this  incident  because  such  conduct  was  rare  rather 
than  common  in  those  dark  days.  I  mention  it  because  this  action 
is  characteristic  of  Gaston.  I  dwell  upon  it  because  the  service  he 
then  rendered  industrial  and  financial  New  England  cannot  be  meas- 
ured in  dollars.  In  these  current  days  we  are  learning  to  appreciate 
personal  valour. 

Blood  will  tell,  they  say.  If  so,  Gaston's  moral  and  physical 
strength  and  courage  are  entirely  logical.  He  comes  of  good  blood 
on  both  sides.  From  his  mother  he  inherited  the  blood  and  spirit  of 
the  Beechers,  a  family  that  for  a  hundred  years  has  given  to  the  re- 
public a  succession  of  men  and  women  devoted  to  religion,  high  princi- 
ple, and  humanity.  Colonel  Gaston's  mother  was  a  cousin  of  the 
famous  preacher,  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  On  his  father's  side,  he  is 
directly  descended  from  a  Huguenot  family  who  left  France  because 
of  religious  troubles;  went  to  Scotland,  thence  to  Ireland,  where  was 
born  his  great-great-grandfather  who  emigrated  and  settled  in  this 
country  in  Killingly,  Connecticut,  where  Mr.  Gaston's  father  first 
saw  the  light  of  day.  Gaston's  home  influence  was  the  very  best. 
His  father  was  Mayor  of  Roxbury,  Mayor  of  Boston  during  the 
Great  Fire  in  1872,  State  Representative,  Senator,  and  finally  Governor 
of  Massachusetts  in  1875,  being  the  first  democratic  Governor  after 
the  Civil  War.  Until  his  death  in  1894,  Governor  Gaston  continued 
to  have  a  great  influence  in  Massachusetts  aff'airs.  His  utter  lack  of 
race  or  religious  bigotry,  his  friendship  for  the  newer  peoples  that 
came  to  this  country  and  his  assistance  and  counsel  to  them;  his 
record  as  a  statesman  and  lawyer,  made  him  one  of  the  great  charac- 
ters in  Massachusetts  during  the  last  generation. 

This  story  of  Colonel  Gaston's  ancestors  is  told  merely  to  show 
what  lies  back  of  him,  and  to  explain  the  principles  of  tradition  and 
honourable  living,  square  dealing  and  public  service  which  he  was 
taught  as  a  child.  Born  in  Roxbury  on  May  i,  1859,  he  was  educated 
in  the  Roxbury  public  schools,  in  the  Roxbury  Latin  School,  and 
finally  at  Harvard  University,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1880  with 
the  degree  of  A.B.  He  was  never  a  prize  scholar  but  had  a  record 
as  a  normal,  wholesome  lad  more  interested  in  athletics  than  academic 
honours.  His  Harvard  class  has  since  become  famous;  it  included 
such  men  as  Theodore  Roosevelt;  Robert  Bacon,  later  to  become  a 
partner  in  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  and  ambassador  to  France; 
Robert  Winsor,  head  of  the  great  banking  house  of  Kidder,  Peabody 
&  Company;  Josiah  Quincy,  and  Richard  L.  Saltonstall,  later  to 
become  one  of  Mr.  Gaston's  partners.  These  were  close  companions 
and  have  remained  so  to  this  day. 

Gaston  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  when  twenty-four.     His  education  was  rounded  out  by  a  long 


156  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

tour  through  Europe.  On  his  return  he  took  up  legal  work  In  his 
father's  office.     He  earned  ^400  in  the  first  year — and  Hved  on  it. 

He  first  began  to  show  his  worth  in  arguments  before  juries;  but 
his  grasp  of  business  problems  developed  so  markedly  that  important 
corporation  cases  were  turned  over  to  him.  Ihe  acute  depression 
of  1893  brought  many  business  troubles,  and  the  courts  for  several 
years  had  their  hands  full.  Young  Gaston  distinguished  himself  by 
his  business  sense,  his  aptitude  for  straightening  out  financial  tangles, 
his  ability  in  aiding  the  reconstruction  and  rehabilitation  of  weakened 
enterprises.  J.  Ogden  Armour  recently  remarked  to  me  that  business 
must  nowadays  be  done  with  a  lawyer  and  a  chemist;  in  those  days  a 
lawyer  was  a  very  necessary  adjunct  to  most  corporations. 

In  the  late  nineties,  when  street  transportation  interests  of  Boston 
were  getting  into  a  very  bad  way,  the  West  End  Street  Railway  was 
a  scries  of  separate  companies,  and  consolidation  into  one  central 
corporation  was  decided  upon  as  the  only  feasible  course  to  avert 
bankruptcy.  This  proposition  met  with  legislative  opposition,  and 
everything  became  hopelessly  muddled^  One  night  Col.  William  A. 
Gaston  was  called  out  of  bed  by  a  committee  of  West  End  stock- 
holders who  appealed  to  him  as  a  public-spirited  citizen  to  sacrifice 
his  lucrative  law  practice,  at  least  temporarily,  and  straighten  out  the 
situation  before  the  threatened  total  wreck  occurred. 

He  at  first  demurred,  but  it  was  probably  the  sporting  side  of  the 
proposition  which  appealed  to  him;  at  all  events,  he  assumed  the 
duties  of  active  manager  and  reorganlzer  of  the  local  traction  com- 
panies and  organized  them  into  one  large  company,  now  known  as  the 
Boston  Elevated  Road.  He  continued  to  manage  this  organization 
for  about  five  years,  during  which  time  he  built  up  the  road,  im- 
proved the  service,  giving  Bostonlans  a  longer  ride  for  a  nickel  than 
any  other  community  in  the  United  States  had  gotten  up  to  that 
time,  and  in  the  meanwhile  by  sound  business  methods  strengthened 
the  company's  position  financially  until  it  was  an  attractive  invest- 
ment. Wages  of  the  employees  were  raised  to  the  maximum  level 
then  current  in  the  United  States.  Workmen's  compensation  methods 
were  introduced  ten  years  before  this  legislation  was  passed  by  the 
legislature.  Benefit  societies  v^^ere  put  on  a  sound  business  booking; 
an  insurance  system  was  instituted,  and  satisfactory  arrangements 
were  made  for  the  handling  of  promotions  on  a  civil  service  basis. 

The  era  of  trusts  set  in  shortly  after  President  McKinley's  election 
in  1896  and  was  in  flood  tide  during  the  years  Mr.  Gaston  rehabili- 
tated Boston's  street  and  elevated  railway  systems.  The  task  in- 
volved the  spending  of  many  millions  of  dollars,  the  letting  of  numer- 
ous contracts,  the  purchase  of  great  quantities  of  material,  etc. 
Under  the  code  prevalent  in  the  late  nineties  and  the  early  years 


WILLIAM  A.  GASTON  157 

of  the  new  century,  it  was  considered  entirely  permissible  for  cor- 
poration directors  and  heads  to  form  little  companies  or  firms  which 
were  allowed  to  earn  enormous  profits  from  dealings  with  the  larger 
enterprises  dominated  by  those  owning  these  side  lines. 

Gaston  refused  point-blank  to  countenance  any  such  flimflamming. 
All  contracts  were  advertised  and  awarded  in  the  open.  Not  only 
did  he  scorn  to  participate  in  profits  illegitimately  filched  from  the 
Boston  Elevated,  but  he  saw  to  it  that  no  one  else  took  advantage  of 
the  company.  There  would  be  nothing  creditable  about  taking  such  a 
stand  at  this  time  of  day.  But  his  insistence  on  such  methods  more 
than  fifteen  years  ago  called  for  a  good  deal  of  independence  and  self- 
assertion.  Having  spent  nearly  five  crowded  years  in  this  work 
(from  1897  to  1901)  he  handed  over  the  management  of  the  property 
to  others. 

It  has  been  said  by  one  of  our  great  American  publicists  that  if  all 
railroad  executives  during  the  last  twenty  years  had  viewed  their 
responsibilities  like  "Billy"  Gaston  we  would  have  been  saved  the 
railroad  troubles  of  the  last  fifteen  years. 

Mr.  Gaston  since  boyhood  entertained  a  natural  desire  to  succeed 
his  father  as  governor  of  Massachusetts.  In  1901  the  Democratic 
Party  had  reached  a  very  low  point  in  regard  to  votes  and  influence. 
He  accepted  its  nomination  for  governor,  and  put  the  same  business 
abilities  and  methods  which  had  built  up  the  elevated  road  and  made 
his  other  lines  of  enterprises  active  and  successful  into  party  reorganiz- 
ation, and  the  campaigns  of  1902  and  1903  gave  the  Republican  or- 
ganization much  to  worry  about.  The  time,  however,  was  not 
politically  propitious.  Although  as  a  result  of  this  reorganization 
the  Democratic  Party  in  the  state  was  put  on  an  effective  fighting 
basis  and  has  since  succeeded  in  electing  three  democratic  gover- 
nors, Mr.  Gaston,  though  he  doubled  the  party  vote  and  could  have 
remained  in  the  field  without  contest,  and  undoubtedly  elected, 
refused  to  be  a  candidate  after  his  second  campaign. 

He  has  been  honoured  many  times  by  his  party — as  Colonel  on 
Governor  Russell's  staff,  which  gives  him  the  title  by  which  he  is  best 
known;  as  a  delegate-at-Iarge  to  the  National  Democratic  Conven- 
tion; as  Democratic  National  Committeeman;  and  as  president  of  the 
Massachusetts  Electoral  College  which  chose  President  Woodrow 
Wilson — the  first  body  since  1820  in  Massachusetts  to  vote  for  a 
Democratic  president- 
It  may  be  recollected  that  in  the  spring  of  1907  there  were  ominous 
financial  rumblings.  Security  values  declined  silently  but  alarmingly. 
Far-sighted  financiers  accepted  the  warning  and  pulled  in  sail. 
There  had  been  enormous  industrial  and  commercial  growth,  involv- 
ing a  corresponding  expansion  in  bank  credit.     The  situation  con- 


158  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

tained  ugly  elements.  Colonel  Gaston  had  returned  to  the  practice 
of  law  in  1904  and  his  firm  had  become  one  of  the  foremost  in  New 
England.  But  again  he  was  called  upon  to  undertake  a  highly  re- 
sponsible task.  The  directors  of  the  Shawmut  National  Bank  were 
not  blind  to  the  unnerving  financial  undercurrents,  and  they  were 
anxious  to  have  at  the  head  of  their  institution  a  man  of  the  very  first 
calibre. 

In  May  Colonel  Gaston  was  installed  as  president.  Almost  before 
he  had  time  to  find  his  bearings  the  storm  broke.  Hundreds  of 
banks  and  trust  companies  throughout  the  country,  among  which 
many  in  New  England  were  included,  began  struggling  to  hoard  gold. 
Mr.  Gaston  realized  that  a  critical  time  had  come.  If  business  men 
were  harshly  ordered  by  their  banks  to  pay  off  their  loans,  and  the 
influential  financial  institutions  were  to  lead  in  the  cry  of  panic  and 
in  hoarding  their  cash  like  misers,  while  dunning  borrowers  to  pay  up 
instantly,  the  end  would  be  a  national  panic  with  general  suffering 
which  would  equal  the  panic  of  1893.  ^r.  Gaston  thereupon  adopted 
a  characteristic  attitude.  He  called  a  meeting  of  his  Board  of  Direc- 
tors, showed  them  concrete  instance  after  instance  where  banks  and 
trust  companies  had  been  hoarding  gold  instead  of  helping  business 
men,  and  as  a  result  solvent  concerns  were  being  forced  to  the  wall. 
The  letter  already  reproduced  was  the  result.  It  was  later  admitted 
that  this  act  more  than  anything  else  mitigated  in  New  England  the 
severity  of  the  crisis.  Its  bravery  and  altruism  even  had  an  effect 
all  over  the  United  States,  where  its  example  was  followed. 

Another  example  of  Mr.  Gaston's  far-sightedness  was  shown  shortly 
after  he  became  president  of  the  bank,  when  he  helped  to  finance  a 
journey  to  South  America  of  graduates  of  the  Boston  High  School 
of  Commerce,  primarily  to  acquaint  them  wuth  the  possibilities  of 
South  America,  but  more  especially  in  order  to  bring  home  to  New 
Englanders  the  fact  that  its  future  business  was  bound  up  in  that 
direction.  As  president  of  the  National  Shawmut,  he  has  been 
working  quietly  but  persistently  with  the  idea  of  extending  our 
trade  in  the  South  American  countries.  The  Shawmut  Bank  is 
to-day  being  represented  by,  and  is  in  turn  the  American  agent  of, 
powerful  financial  South  American  institutions. 

Mr.  Gaston  headed  the  Finance  Committee  which  collected  funds 
for  the  Wilson  campaign  in  191 2.  When  certain  financial  interests 
were  incensed  over  the  appointment  of  William  G.  McAdoo  as  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  and  opposed  from  the  beginning  the  passage  of 
the  new  Currency  Bill,  the  attitude  of  many  Boston  bankers  was 
that  the  worse  the  Democratic  measure  could  be  made  the  better, 
since  it  would  defeat  itself.     Mr.  Gaston  took  the  contrary  view. 

During  the  discussion  of  this  financial  legislation,  which  resulted 


WILLIAM  A.  GASTON  159 

In  the  enactment  of  the  Federal  Reserve  Law,  he  made  a  score  of 
trips  to  Washington  to  consult  with  the  members  of  the  committee  on 
behalf  of  the  House  and  the  Senate  and  with  such  leaders  as  Repre- 
sentative Glass  and  Senator  Owen,  and,  of  course,  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury.  Perhaps  more  than  any  other  man  in  New  England, 
his  opinion  was  sought  in  the  passage  of  this  bill,  which  in  the  opinion 
of  the  practical  financial  Interests  of  the  United  States  has  been  a 
great  success. 

While  this  was  going  on,  the  Clearing  House  Committee,  appointed 
by  the  Clearing  House  Association,  to  which  belong  most  of  the  na- 
tional banks  of  Boston,  held. a  preliminary  meeting,  and  proposed 
to  call  a  general  meeting  of  clearing  house  banks  to  pass  resolutions 
condemning  the  pending  legislation  in  Congress.  Mr.  Gaston  took 
the  position  in  this  matter  that  If  such  a  meeting  were  called,  he  would 
attend  and  dissent  from  the  vote  and  would  do  everything  he  could 
to  Influence  similar  action  by  other  financial  institutions.  The  pro- 
posed meeting  was  abandoned. 

About  this  time  the  American  Bankers*  Association  held  their 
annual  meeting  In  Boston,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  organize  a 
movement  to  discredit  the  Currency  Act  then  before  Congress. 
Determined  action  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Gaston  and  his  associates  pre- 
vented the  contest  In  this  convention  which  would  have  followed 
the  introduction  of  the  proposed  condemnatory  resolutions. 

This  assistance  to  the  administration  was  wholly  impersonal  and 
patriotic. 

Again,  when  a  critical  situation  was  created  by  the  urgent  need  for 
gold  after  the  European  war  began  and  it  became  necessary  to  form 
a  gold  pool,  powerful  opposition  was  exerted  on  the  ground  that 
the  gold  was  needed  here  more  than  In  England.  The  National 
Shawmut  Bank  In  New  England  contributed  very  heavily  to  the 
Gold  Pool,  which  was  the  means  of  producing  a  proper  exchange  basis 
between  the  two  countries.  To-day  financial  men  then  opposing 
this  measure  see  and  admit  the  courage  and  wisdom  of  Gaston's 
attitude. 

Another  Instance  where  Mr.  Gaston  was  wise  enough  and  brave 
enough  to  oppose  those  Immediately  around  him  who  thought  he  was 
temporarily  acting  against  their  Interests,  was  In  relation  to  the 
Cotton  Pool,  formed  after  the  opening  of  the  great  war.  England's 
attitude  on  cotton  exportation  had  made  imminent  the  danger  of  a 
collapse  in  the  price  of  cotton,  and  threatened  southern  cotton  pro- 
ducers, cotton  buyers,  and  dealers  with  bankruptcy  and  ruin.  In  this 
crisis  the  government  asked  northern  and  eastern  banking  Interests 
to  put  up  money  In  order  that  the  Federal  Reserve  Board  could  buy 
cotton  and  keep  Its  price  within  reasonable  bounds.     The  Clearing 


i6o  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

House  Committee  of  the  Boston  Banks  was  asked  to  meet  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  cotton  manufacturers  of  New  England,  who  took  the 
position  that  inasmuch  as  they  had  paid  excessively  high  prices  for 
cotton  for  years,  the  profits  on  their  manufactured  cotton  goods  being 
reduced  or  wiped  out  because  of  former  high  prices  of  cotton,  now 
that  cotton  was  down  to  a  low  price,  Boston  banks  had  no  right  to 
help  to  keep  the  price  up  artificially  by  such  a  means  as  the  proposed 
pool,  especially  as  the  money  contributed  for  this  pool  would  come 
from  institutions  largely  interested  in  low-price  cotton.  At  this  time 
there  were  six  or  eight  cotton  mill  treasurers  on  the  Board  of  Directors 
of  the  Shawmut  Bank  and  many  other  directors  interested  in  cotton 
manufacturing.  Under  Mr.  Gaston's  leadership  the  Shawmut  Bank 
voted,  with  a  few  dissenters  on  the  Board  of  Directors,  to  authorize 
the  President  to  contribute  to  the  Cotton  Pool,  which,  however,  was 
not  called  for. 

While  a  number  of  Boston  banks  refused  to  go  into  this  Cotton 
Pool,  those  most  strenuous  in  their  opposition  now  realize  that  it  was 
the  broad,  patriotic  thing  to  do,  and  they  like  Mr.  Gaston  all  the 
better  for  his  insistence.  They  are  never  in  doubt  as  to  what  his 
position  is,  and  experience  has  taught  them  that  his  judgment  is 
unbiased  by  selfish  considerations. 

Colonel  Gaston's  reputation  for  ability  to  pull  a  desperate  cause 
out  of  the  hole  is  constantly  bringing  him  to  the  front — often  against 
his  innate  desire  to  remain  out  of  the  limelight.  When  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  wanted  a  new  ^500,000  building,  Colonel 
Gaston  was  coaxed  into  leadership  of  the  campaign — and  succeeded. 

Next  he  organized  the  ^300,000  campaign  to  get  a  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  building  in  Charlestown,  Mass.,  for  the  enlisted 
men  of  the  navy. 

When  John  L.  Mott,  general  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  wanted 
somebody  to  get  money  contributions  in  New  England  to  the  fund 
for  maintaining  the  prison  camps  in  the  war  countries,  it  was  Colonel 
Gaston  to  whom  he  came. 

When  the  Liberty  Loan  Committee  was  threatened  with  a  desperate 
situation,  it  called  on  Colonel  Gaston,  w^ho  got  together  at  an 
hour's  notice  two  hundred  of  New  England's  leading  capitalists  in 
the  Exchange  Club  and  from  that  moment  there  was  no  more  doubt 
of  the  success  of  New  England's  efforts. 

As  a  member  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Red  Cross  to 
raise  the  $100,000,000  fund  he  did  more  than  his  share.  And  so  on 
in  every  work  for  patriotic  purposes  he  is  to  be  found  quietly  inspiring 
others  to  work  while  carrying  the  major  burden  himself. 

Mr.  Gaston's  capacity  for  leadership  is  demonstrated  even  in  his 
country  life.     About  ten  years  ago  he   bought  a  farm  in   Barre, 


WILLIAM  A.  GASTON  i6i 

Mass.,  to  which  he  devotes  a  great  deal  of  attention.  As  a 
lover  of  animals  he  uses  this  as  a  breeding  place  for  all  kinds  of 
fancy  stock,  and  has  interested  himself  in  the  affairs  of  the  local 
community,  being  elected  president  of  one  of  the  oldest  agricultural 
societies  in  the  country,  the  Barre  Agricultural  Society. 

His  Alma  Mater  conferred  upon  him  the  coveted  honour  of  election 
as  a  member  of  its  Board  of  Trustees  when  he  was  only  forty-six 
years  of  age. 

With  his  wife  and  four  children  he  is  very  happy  in  his  home  life. 
His  eldest  son,  who  inherits  the  family  name  of  William  and  with  it 
its  qualities,  is  now  training  as  an  aviator  and  by  the  time  this  ap- 
pears will  probably  be  in  active  service  in  France. 

New  England  needs  such  men  as  William  A.  Gaston.  For  almost 
lOO  years  after  the  American  Revolution,  New  England  held  undis- 
puted primacy  in  the  nation's  industrial  and  commercial  leadership. 
After  the  Civil  War,  New  York  clinched  the  financial  control  in 
which  it  has  been  growing  stronger  every  year,  carrying  with  it  far- 
reaching  consequences  to  New  England — consequences  all  the  more 
serious  because  up  to  a  few  years  ago  the  conservatives  in  control  of 
New  England  business  and  finance  refused  to  face  or  accept  the  facts. 

It  was  New  England  capital  that  had  built  up  and  developed 
Western  farms,  mines,  and  railroads.  The  returns  from  these  in- 
vestments were  so  satisfactory,  and  the  sense  of  power  inherent  in 
this  ownership  so  tickling  to  New  England  sectional  pride,  that  the 
fact  that  financial  control  of  the  money  market  had  passed  to  New 
York,  which  not  only  secured  control  of  the  Western,  but  also  of  the 
New  England  railroads,  and  with  this  the  right  to  restrict  and  even 
to  deny  to  New  England  the  needed  transportation  improvements, 
was,  if  considered  at  all,  not  discussed  or  openly  admitted. 

The  fact  that  New  England  had  each  succeeding  year  turned  out 
more  shoes,  cotton,  and  woolen  products  than  the  year  previously 
was  accepted  as  sufficient  proof  of  progress. 

Only  within  the  last  ten  years  has  New  England  begun  to  awaken 
to  the  knowledge  that  relatively  it  is  slipping  behind.  While  its 
absolute  primacy  in  the  manufactures  of  its  standard  staples  con- 
tinues, the  relative  progress  of  Missouri  in  shoe  manufacture  and 
of  theCarolinas  in  the  production  of  cotton  fabrics,  make  those  states 
press  Massachusetts  hard  for  first  place. 

In  addition  to  the  false  security  engendered  by  the  belief  that  with- 
out contest  New  England  was  destined  permanently  to  retain  the  in- 
dustrial leadership  of  the  United  States,  there  has  come  to  be  accepted 
in  Massachusetts  without  much  protest  and  even  with  some  compla- 
cency, the  belief  that  the  state,  which  has  always  prided  itself  on 
leading  all  the  commonwealths  in  regulating  hours  of  work  and  pro- 


i62  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

tecting  the  child  and  woman  labour,  is  the  natural  laboratory  to 
try  out  all  kinds  of  half-baked,  socialistic  theories.  Railroad  and 
banking  laws,  copied  by  Western  states  twenty-five  years  after  being 
enacted  in  Massachusetts,  were  used  to  justify  the  claim  of  these 
frontier  states  to  leadership  in  radicalism,  the  fact  being  that  most  of 
these  laws  have  been  so  long  in  force  successfully  in  Massachusetts 
that  their  origins  are  forgotten. 

The  result  of  transportation  isolation  and  socialistic  domination 
in  legislation  is  that  manufacturers  are  not  encouraged  to  build  fac- 
tories in  a  state  in  which  taxes  are  disproportionately  high  and  the 
laws  under  which  business  is  done  more  stringent  than  competing 
states  in  which  every  inducement  is  offered  to  new  enterprises  and 
a  premium  placed  upon  their  coming.  Massachusetts  has  skilled 
labour  and  competent  employers,  but  this  is  not  enough. 

Massachusetts  bankers  who  have  been  satisfied  with  the  volume 
of  bank  clearings,  because  they  were  larger  each  year  than  the  year 
before,  have  also  only  recently  awakened  to  the  fact  that  the  per- 
centage of  this  increase  is  but  half  that  of  the  nation  as  a  whole. 
Only  recently  are  Massachusetts  manufacturers  waking  up  to  the 
knowledge  that  their  transportation  system  is  intolerable,  not  only 
making  it  difficult  for  domestic  competition  in  local  products,  but 
operating  to  retard  the  growth  of  the  chief  asset  of  New  England — 
its  water  front — because  of  the  impossibility  of  ships  to  get  out- 
cargoes  for  export  from  New  England  ports. 

Only  within  the  last  few  years  also  have  New  England  manufac- 
turers and  the  people  generally  awakened  to  the  fact  that  the  Ameri- 
can market  for  New  England  goods  is  no  longer  sufficient  to  keep  their 
factories  going  full  time.  New  England  competitors  in  manufactur- 
ing, in  other  parts  of  the  country,  with  nearness  to  hydro-electric 
facilities,  fuel,  raw  material,  and  better  transportation  facilities, 
have  an  unquestioned  advantage  in  the  home  market.  The  only 
hope  for  constant  employment  of  American  wage  earners  after  the 
war  is  a  share  of  the  world's  foreign  trade,  and  there  again  the  trans- 
portation handicap  against  New  England  becomes  important. 

What  New  England  needs  to-day  is  Men,  and  fortunately  for  the 
section,  it  is  meeting  the  demand.  Foremost  in  this  company  of 
captains  whose  opportunity  and  privilege  it  is  to  lead  New  England 
in  this  struggle  for  its  future,  is  William  A.  Gaston. 


GEO.  W.  GOETHALS 


GEORGE  W.  GOETHALS 

WHEN  the  news  came  that  an  army  engineer  would  be 
chosen  to  build  the  canal,  we  all  immediately  thought  of 
Goethals,"  declared  General  Mackenzie,  then  chief  of  the 
United  States  Corps  of  Engineers. 

Why  did  General  Mackenzie  and  other  eminent  army  engineers  at 
once  know  that  a  mere  major  was  the  ideal  man  for  the  job?  Why 
did  Theodore  Roosevelt  appoint  him?  Why  did  Secretary  of  War 
Taft  decide  that  this  little-advertised  officer  was  the  best  man  in  the 
land  for  the  biggest  job  confronting  the  nation  ? 

Because  Goethals  was  born  under  a  lucky  star?  No.  It  was  be- 
cause he  had  fitted  himself  to  meet  the  opportunity  and  to  measure 
up  to  it.  It  was  not  because  of  good  fortune,  but  because  of  his 
record.  It  was  not  because  of  any  influence,  but  because  of  his 
demonstrated  ability.  It  was  not  because  of  chance,  but  because  of 
his  character.  It  was  not  because  of  "pull,"  but  because  of  his  per- 
sonality. 

When  the  Goddess  of  Opportunity  sought  a  man  she  went  straight 
to  Goethals's  door.  When  she  knocked  he  was  ready,  ready  to  go 
forth  and  link  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  to  break  the  backbone  of 
two  continents,  to  overcome  obstacles  that  had  defied  others,  to  per- 
form the  greatest  engineering  and  constructive  feat  of  all  time. 

His  antecedents,  his  record  up  to  that  date? 

A  Brooklyn  lad  of  Dutch  descent,  born  June  29,  1858,  he  went  to 
work  as  an  errand  boy  in  New  York  when  only  eleven.  At  fourteen 
he  began  keeping  books  for  a  produce  market  man  after  school  and 
on  Saturdays.  His  pay  was  gradually  increased  from  ^5  a  week  to 
$15,  and  he  contrived  to  put  himself  through  the  College  of  the  City  of 
New  York.  He  matriculated  at  Columbia  with  a  view  to  becoming  a 
doctor,  the  favourite  family  profession,  but  the  day-and-night  work 
and  study  having  affected  his  health,  he  decided  to  gain  admission 
to  West  Point.  President  Grant  ignored  a  letter  on  the  subject,  but 
young  Goethals,  undaunted,  prevailed  upon  "Sunset"  Cox,  then  a 
notable  political  figure  in  New  York,  to  recommend  him  after  he  had 
given  an  assurance  that  he  would  make  good — which  several  young 
blades  sponsored  by  Cox  had  not  done. 

Entering  West  Point  on  April  21,  1876,  the  slender,  light-haired, 
blue-eyed  youth  exhibited  the  same  grit  which  had  enabled  him  to 

163 


i64  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

earn  a  college  education  and  developed  the  qualities  which  were  to 
win  him  international  fame.  Thus:  He  graduated  second  in  scholar- 
ship in  a  class  of  fifty-four  and  was  one  of  the  only  two  graduates  con- 
sidered worthy  of  selection  for  the  coveted  Engineers'  Corps.  He  was 
chosen  one  of  the  four  captains  of  the  Cadet  Corps.  He  was  elected 
president  of  his  class.  He  had,  therefore,  won  the  highest  distinction 
in  scholarship,  in  military  skill,  and  as  a  leader  of  his  associates,  a  rare 
trinity. 

His  first  commanding  ofllicer,  knowing  the  tendency  of  young  army 
engineers  to  indulge  in  strutting,  set  Goethals  to  work  carrying  a  rod. 
He  did  not  object;  he  merely  told  his  superior,  "I  am  here  to  learn." 
And  learn  he  did.  In  two  years  he  was  promoted  from  second  lieu- 
tenant to  first  lieutenant,  and  gained  his  captaincy  nine  years  later,  in 
1891. 

It  was  not  his  rank,  however,  that  distinguished  him  from  other 
army  engineers,  but  his  abilities  and  his  achievements.  "Whatever 
I  gave  him  to  do  I  immediately  dismissed  from  my  mind  because 
I  knew  it  would  be  done  right,"  said  one  of  his  superiors.  While  still 
in  the  twenties,  he  was  chosen  instructor  in  civil  and  military  engineer- 
ing at  the  United  States  Military  Academy;  later  he  was  placed  in 
charge  of  the  Mussel  Shoals  Canal  construction  on  the  Tennessee 
River;  was  signally  honoured  by  being  called  to  Washington  as  a 
member  of  the  General  Staff,  and  was  made  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Fortifications  (for  coast  and  harbour  defence). 

No  matter  what  his  station,  no  matter  what  the  nature  of  his  duties, 
no  matter  with  whom  he  had  to  deal,  Goethals  displayed  not  merely 
technical  skill  of  high  order,  but  the  rarer  quality  of  statesmanship  in 
handling  men.  Wherever  he  went,  among  whomever  he  worked,  he 
inspired  a  loyalty  and  enthusiasm  that  produced  100  per  cent,  results. 

"To  accomplish  successfully  any  task,"  Colonel  Goethals  told  a 
graduating  class  at  West  Point,  "it  is  necessary  not  only  that  you 
should  give  it  the  best  that  is  in  you,  but  that  you  should  obtain  for 
it  the  best  there  is  in  those  who  are  under  your  guidance.  To  do 
this  you  must  have  confidence  in  the  undertaking  and  confidence  in 
your  ability  to  accomplish  it,  in  order  to  inspire  the  same  feeling  in 
them.  You  must  have  not  only  accurate  knowledge  of  their  capabili- 
ties, but  a  just  appreciation  and  a  full  recognition  of  their  needs  and 
rights  as  fellowmen.  In  other  words,  be  considerate,  just,  and  fair 
with  them  in  all  dealings,  treating  them  as  fellow-members  of  the 
great  Brotherhood  of  Humanity." 

Goethals  did  not  dig  the  Panama  Canal  with  steam  shovels.  He 
dug  it  with  men.  Since  everything  must  be  done  through  men, 
Goethals's  rule  is  to  give  first  attention  to  men.  By  picking  the  right 
kind  of  men  and  then  by  treating  them  with  absolute  fairness,  any- 


GEORGE  W.  GOETHALS  165 

thing  within  the  power  of  man  can  be  accomplished.  To  join  two 
oceans  had  been  the  dream  of  great  men  for  centuries;  but  while 
others  only  dreamed  or  failed,  Goethals  went  ahead  and  achieved 
triumphant  results. 

"As  a  soldier,"  he  says,  "I  have  always  considered  *Do'  an  essential 
element  of  duty.  In  analyzing  men  for  detail  duty  on  the  canal,  I 
found  that  the  man  with  military  training  had  an  advantage  in 
knowing  how  to  obey.  Service  is  nothing  more  than  obedience  in  a 
broad  sense.  If  you  escape  duty  you  avoid  action.  Stern  duties  do 
not  require  harsh  commands.  Knowledge  of  our  duties  is  the  most 
essential  part  of  the  philosophy  of  life." 

And  again:  "How  many  business  men  ever  make  an  inventory  of 
their  employees?  Do  they  give  as  much  attention  to  the  human 
equation  as  they  do  to  machinery.?" 

Goethals  is  the  Kitchener  of  America.  Both  were  trained  as  mili- 
tary engineers.  Both  developed  remarkable  executive  force.  Both 
had  the  faculty  of  enthusing  and  inspiring  men.  Both  became  leaders 
of  the  same  type — extremely  insistent  upon  obedience,. intolerant  of 
excuses  for  failure,  implacable  of  delay,  autocratic  in  certain  respects, 
yet  just  and  considerate.  Kitchener's  eyes  were  not  unlike  those  of 
Goethals' — keen,  searching,  piercing.  Goethals  has  studied  Kitch- 
ener's career  and  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  Kitchener  studied  the 
achievements  of  Goethals. 

Goethals  once  remarked:  "The  world  demands  results.  It  is 
recorded  that  Lord  Kitchener,  when  a  subordinate  during  the  South 
African  war  began  to  explain  a  failure  to  obey  orders,  said,  'Your 
reasons  for  not  doing  it  are  the  best  I  ever  heard;  now  go  and  do  it  I' 
That  is  what  the  world  demands  to-day." 

Both  Kitchener  and  Goethals  have  been  •called'despots.  Certainly 
no  man  not  wearing  a  crown  ever  wielded  such  autocratic  authority 
as  was  invested  in  Goethals  during  the  building  of  the  Panama  Canal. 
He  ruled  with  all  the  old-time  freedom  of  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  or 
the  Russian  Czar.  But  his  rule  was  founded  on  exact  justice. 
Goethals  accepted  and  acted  upon  the  principle  that  there  is  a  Brother- 
hood of  Humanity.  His  fearlessness  was  never  divorced  from  fairness. 
Power,  he  recognized,  is  only  opportunity  to  do  what  is  right. 

When  he  held  informal  "court"  every  Sunday  morning  at  his  office 
and  heard  every  comer,  white,  black,  or  in-between,  he  had  wider 
authority  than  the  United  States  Supreme  Court;  yet  he  played  the 
role  of  fatherly  adviser  rather  than  a  cold  legal  functionary.  Wives 
of  all  colours  came  to  him  to  reclaim  erring  husbands;  labourers  with  a 
grievance  against  their  foremen  received  respectful  attention;  men 
dismissed  could  lay  their  cases  fully  before  him.  These  Sunday  morn- 
ing sessions  made  the  administration  of  the  Canal  Zone  possible. 


i66  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

They  were  a  unique  combination  of  theoretical  autocracy  and  applied 
democracy.  They  were  Panama's  safety  valve.  Wrongdoers  knew 
that  "The  Colonel"  could  deport  them  from  the  Isthmus  with  a 
stroke  of  his  pen — but  they  also  knew  that  if  they  did  the  right  thing 
he  would  see  to  it  that  they  got  a  square  deal. 

What  the  public  wants  to  know  is  how  Goethals  achieved  the  ap- 
parently impossible;  how  he  found  time  not  only  to  meet  and  solve 
engineering  problems,  not  only  how  to  succeed  in  building  the  canal, 
but  also  how  he,  an  army  officer,  was  able  to  become  so  successful  an 
administrator;  how  he  managed  to  keep  a  formerly  lawless  land 
peaceful  and  law-abiding — how,  in  short,  he  achieved  such  signal 
results  in  dealing  both  with  machinery  and  with  human  beings. 

The  situation  that  confronted  Goethals  when  he  was  dispatched 
to  Panama  was  appalling.  The  great  De  Lesseps,  builder  of  the 
Suez  Canal,  when  he  tackled  the  problem  of  sundering  the  American 
continents  had  declared  confidently:  "The  canal  will  be  built."  But 
after  spending  ^260,000,000  and  losing  many  thousands  of  lives  the 
French  had  to  acknowledge  defeat  after  ten  years'  labours.  President 
McKinley  had  appointed  a  commission  to  investigate  Central  Ameri- 
can canal  routes  in  1899,  ^^^  it  remained  for  President  Roosevelt  to 
get  action.  In  his  own  words:  "I  took  Panama  and  left  Congress 
to  debate  it  later,"  paralleling  the  late  E.  H.  Harriman's  reputed 
method  of  ordering  boards  of  directors  to  vote  first  and  talk  after- 
ward. By  paying  French  interests  ^40,000,000  and  Panama 
$10,000,000  in  cash  and  agreeing  to  an  annual  payment  of  $250,000 
in  perpetuity,  the  United  States  on  May  4,  1904,  took  over  the  ten- 
mile  Canal  Zone  stretching  from  Colon  on  the  Atlantic  to  Panama  on 
the  Pacific.  Colombia  had  tried  to  prevent  the  secession  and  was 
disgruntled. 

Of  machinery  for  the  administration  of  the  new  territory  there  was 
virtually  none.  There  had  been  over  fifty  revolutions  in  that  region 
in  about  as  many  years.  Crime,  violence,  vice,  disease,  had  held 
revel  there  for  decades. 

Congress  appointed  a  "seven-headed"  commission  to  administer 
the  affairs  of  the  Zone  and  to  dig  the  canal.  The  job  proved  too  big, 
too  complicated,  too  difficult,  too  discouraging  for  the  septette.  The 
canal  was  being  dug  from  Washington.  Before  a  roll  of  mosquito 
netting  could  be  procured  it  had  to  be  wound  with  red  tape.  Re- 
quests for  machinery  were  similarly  treated.  John  F.  Wallace,  chief 
engineer,  threw  up  the  sponge  at  the  end  of  twelve  months  after 
having  fought  valiantly  against  disheartening  odds. 

John  F.  Stevens  stepped  into  the  breach  and  wrestled  with  red 
tape,  fever  epidemics,  discontented  labour,  and  construction  setbacks. 
Moreover,  the  chief  engineer's  acts  were  open  to  disapproval  by  the 


GEORGE  W.  GOETHALS  167 

chairman   of  the  Commission,  who  usually  reposed  comfortably  in 
Washington,  D.  C.,  instead  of  Culebra,  C.  Z.     Stevens,  too,  gave 

up. 

President  Roosevelt  was  angry.  He  had  set  his  heart  upon  having 
the  Panama  Canal  built  but  had  encountered  nothing  but  disappoint- 
ment after  disappointment,  delay  after  delay,  and  resignation  after 
resignation.  This  time  he  determined  to  appoint  a  Chief  Engineer 
who  could  not  quit,  one  accustomed  to  doing  things,  one  who  could 
straighten  out  tangles  and  "send  the  dirt  flying."  He  turned  to  the 
army  and  there  found  his  man. 

At  first  merely  chief  engineer,  Goethals  within  six  weeks  was  ap- 
pointed chairman  of  the  Canal  Commission  and  given  practically 
unlimited  control.  Colonel  Goethals  proceeded  to  do  things  without 
holding  perpetual  pow-wows  with  members  of  boards.  His  definition 
of  boards,  committees,  and  commissions  is  now  historic:  "All  boards 
are  long,  narrow,  and  wooden." 

At  last  President  Roosevelt  had  found  a  man  after  his  own  heart. 
Hardly  had  the  soldier-administrator  reached  the  Isthmus,  early  in 
1907,  before  he  abolished  all  the  municipalities,  wiped  out  offices  ga- 
lore, divided  the  Zone  into  administrative  districts,  and  set  up  an 
entirely  new  order.  Without  specific  legal  authority,  President 
Roosevelt  gave  Goethals  virtually  carte  blanche.  New  laws  were 
promulgated  without  bothering  with  red  tape;  the  whole  administra- 
tive machinery  was  reorganized;  new  methods  of  dealing  with  labour 
were  enforced.  All  this  went  under  the  description  of  "benevolent 
despotism."     Colonel  Goethals  later  described  his  course  thus: 

"While  there  was  probably  truth  in  the  assertion  made  at  that  time 
that  the  chairman  had  exceeded  his  authority  and  usurped  the  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Commission,  the  end  not  only  justified  the  means, 
but  could  have  been  accomplished  in  no  other  way." 

The  soldier-become-statesman  had  been  sent  to  Panama  to  build 
the  canal  and  he  meant  to  build  it.  Everything  else  was  subsidiary. 
If  the  susceptibilities  of  certain  ornamental  gentlemen  at  Washington 
were  hurt — unfortunate  but  inevitable.  If  things  had  to  be  done 
without  preliminary  cabling  and  corresponding — the  things  were  done. 
If  the  health  and  well-being  and  recreation  of  the  workers  called  for 
undiluted  paternalism — the  necessary  steps  were  taken.  Whether 
the  President  of  the  United  States  had  a  legal  right  to  act  without 
specific  sanction  of  Congress  was  none  of  the  engineer's  business.  He 
was  there  to  obey  Presidential  orders  and  to  have  his  own  orders 
obeyed  in  turn. 

Asked  the  chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Appropriations 
during  the  inevitable  Congressional  "investigation": 

"Did  you  ever  inquire  into  the  right  of  the  Panama  Railroad  Com- 


i68  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

pany,  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  go  into  the  hotel 
business,  Colonel  Goethals?" 

"No,  sir;  I  got  an  order  from  the  President  of  the  United  States  to 
build  that  hotel  and  I  built  it" — referring  to  the  Washington  Hotel 
at  Colon. 

At  first  the  Panamanians,  like  a  good  many  others,  scoffed  at  the 
appointment  of  an  army  engineer  to  rule  over  the  Isthmus  and  carry 
out  the  greatest  constructive  job  ever  attempted  on  Mother  Earth. 
The  workmen  opined  that  they  had  better  learn  how  to  salute  just-so 
or  run  dire  risk  of  instant  dismissal.  They  pictured  a  ha-ha!  Colonel, 
gaily  decked  in  a  richly  trimmed  uniform,  his  chest  adorned  with 
half-a-dozen  medals,  his  hands  carefully  protected  by  gloves,  with  a 
numerous,  obsequious  staff  of  high-born  young  officers  dancing  atten- 
dance wherever  he  travelled  by  auto  or  carriage.  They  expected  a 
martinet  of  martinets. 

Goethals  arrived  unheralded  and  was  received  with  no  pomp  or 
ceremony.  He  was  mild-mannered.  This  led  to  a  little  misunder- 
standing which  Goethals  settled  very  characteristically.  Union 
leaders  waited  upon  him  and  told  him  that  if  he  did  not  do  a  certain 
thing  they  would  all  resign  that  evening  and  stop  the  whole  works. 
Goethals  listened  politely  and  shook  hands  with  them  as  they  left — 
without  committing  himself  one  way  or  the  other.  When  evening 
came  without  any  decision  they  telephoned  Goethals.  "I  thought 
you  had  all  resigned,"  was  his  reply.  "But  you  surely  don't  want  to 
tie  up  the  work?"  they  queried.  "I  shall  not  be  tying  it  up;  you'll 
be  tying  it  up.  You  forget  this  is  not  a  private  enterprise  but  a 
Government  job."  Puzzled,  they  next  asked,  "Well,  what  are  you 
going  to  do?" 

"Any  man  not  at  work  to-morrow  morning  will  be  permanently 
dismissed.  Good-night."  Next  morning  the  full  force  was  promptly 
on  the  job  and  that  virtually  ended  Goethals's  troubles  with  canal 
employees. 

They  soon  learned  that  he  regarded  them  as  friendly  co-workers 
on  a  great  task  for  the  Government,  that  he  was  prepared  to  work 
harder  than  any  of  them,  that  he  went  everywhere  and  saw  everything 
with  his  own  eyes,  that  he  would  allow  no  official,  high  or  low,  to 
browbeat  a  single  labourer  or  treat  him  unjustly,  that  his  door  stood 
wide  open  every  Sunday  morning  to  hear  complaints  and  have  justice 
meted  out  with  even  hand.  They  also  came  to  realize  that  the  Colo- 
nel was  master  of  the  job,  that  he  was  able  to  swing  it — and  that 
commanded  respect.  Moreover,  he  was  even  more  careful  of  the 
employees'  health  than  of  his  own;  instead  of  living  in  state  at  Panama 
or  Colon,  his  office  headquarters  were  on  Cucaracha  Hill,  overlooking 
defiant,  rebellious  Culebra. 


GEORGE  W.  GOETHALS  169' 

Doctor  Gorgas,  to  whom  mankind  is  debtor,  found  in  Goethals  an 
ardent  supporter  of  his  brilHant  campaign  to  rout  the  malarial  mos- 
quito and  banish  fever  from  the  Zone,  without  which  efforts  the  story 
of  canal  building  under  the  Americans  might  have  more  closely  and 
tragically  resembled  the  attempts  of  the  French. 

Napoleon,  when  an  obscure  subaltern,  used  to  pore  over  manuals  of 
government  as  painstakingly  as  over  manuals  on  manoeuvres.  Goe- 
thals acted  as  if  there  were  no  problem  of  civil  administration  which  he 
had  not  pondered  for  years  in  anticipation  of  just  such  duties  as  now 
were  laid  upon  his  shoulders.  He  handled  the  volatile  Panamanians 
with  consummate  skill.  He  handled  50,000  employees,  comprising 
over  seventy  nationalities,  as  if  his  sole  study  and  sphere  in  life  had 
been  that  of  a  great  industrial  executive,  arousing  in  them  the  com- 
petitive spirit  to  the  highest  pitch  through  dividing  the  canal  into 
three  sections,  Atlantic,  Central,  Pacific,  and  pitting  them  against 
one  another  in  their  digging.  These  were  the  qualities — it  was  not 
merely  technical  engineering  knov/ledge — that  built  the  canal.  Colo- 
nel Goethals  modestly  says  there  were  no  new  engineering  prob- 
lems to  be  solved,  but  that  there  were  endless  novel  problems  in 
government. 

His  attitude  toward  human  beings  under  his  charge  is  well  illus- 
trated by  the  following  passage  from  another  of  the  inescapable 
Congressional  quizzes,  the  point  at  issue  being  an  item  of  ^52,000 
for  a  club-house: 

Chairman:     "A  $52,000  club-house?" 

Colonel  Goethals:  "Yes,  sir.  We  need  a  good  club-house,  be- 
cause we  should  give  the  men  some  amusement,  and  keep  them  out 
of  Panama.     I  believe  in  the  club-house  principle." 

Chairman:  "That  is  all  right,  but  you  must  contemplate  a  very 
elaborate  house?" 

Colonel  Goethals:  "Yes,  sir.  I  want  to  make  a  town  there  that 
will  be  a  credit  to  the  United  States  Government." 

The  Panamanians  were  finding  Goethals  not  a  martinet  but  very 
much  a  man,  a  human  being  who  understood  human  beings  and 
wanted  to  treat  them  as  human  beings.  Everything  he  did  was  done 
openly  and  above  board.  There  were  no  cabals,  no  star-chamber 
intriguing,  no  political  wire-pulling.  Indeed,  Colonel  Goethals  was  a 
practitioner  of  the  gospel  of  publicity  in  all  his  relations  with  his  force 
— ^just  as,  at  college,  he  had  aligned  himself  with  the  anti-secret  society 
order.  Delta  Upsilon.  Every  man  knew  his  job  was  safe  as  long  as 
he  filled  it.  Plis  own  conception  of  duty  Goethals  has  defined  in  these 
words: 

"We  are  inclined  to  accept  praise  or  reward  for  doing  nothing  more 
than  our  duty,  when  as  a  matter  of  fact  we  are  entitled  to  neither, 


170  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

■> 
since  we  have  done  only  what  is  required  of  us.  The  plaudits  of  our 
fellows  may  be  flattering  to  our  vanity,  but  they  are  not  lasting;  by 
the  next  turn  of  the  wheel  they  may  be  changed  into  abuse  and  con- 
demnation." 

The  world  intently  watched  Colonel  Goethals  cleave  the  continent 
in  twain.  They  saw  him  not  merely  directing  the  engineering,  con- 
structive and  other  physical  phases  of  the  epochal  task,  but  discharg- 
ing the  multifarious  duties  of  civil  administration.  And  the  world 
pictured  him  as  among  the  most  heavily  burdened  men  on  the  planet. 

"Load?"  repeated  Colonel  Goethals  to  a  recent  interviewer. 
"There  never  was  a  load  on  me.     It  was  my  business  to  load!" 

He  did  load,  and  saw  to  it  that  each  man  properly  carried  his  load. 
By  way  of  example:  A  rather  pompous  oflhicial  with  a  grievance 
against  the  Colonel  for  having  sent  him  certain  instructions,  entered 
the  office  one  morning  and  began: 

"I  got  that  letter  of  yours.  Colonel." 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  but  you  must  be  mistaken;  I  have  written  you 
no  letter,"  replied  the  Colonel. 

"Oh,  yes,  Colonel — about  that  work  down  at  Miraflores." 

*'0h,  I  see,"  replied  the  Colonel  imperturbably.  "You  spoke  a 
little  inaccurately.  You  mean  you  received  my  orders,  not  a  letter. 
You  have  the  orders,  so  that  matter  is  settled.  Was  there  anything 
else  you  wished  to  talk  about?"     That  ended  the  interview. 

Colonel  Goethals  was  and  is  a  great  stickler  for  having  orders 
obeyed  to  the  letter  and  also  to  the  minute.  "My  first  text-book 
was  the  calendar,"  he  remarked  in  reviewing  his  work  at  Panama. 
"Few  realize  the  importance  of  definite  dates.  It  is  amazing  what 
men  can  accomplish  when  given  definite  task,  specific  order,  and  time 
limit.  A  good  many  things  an  executive  complains  about  in  his  men 
are  due  to  his  own  lack  of  preparation  and  definite  instructions,  A 
task  is  either  done  or  not  done  to-day.  The  first  things  1  studied  in 
building  the  canal  were  the  time-books." 

When  chief  of  staff  in  South  Africa,  Lord  Kitchener  once  sent 
for  a  railroad  manager  and  asked  him  what  was  the  shortest  time 
in  which  a  train  could  be  run  from  Johannesburg,  then  Kitchener's 
headquarters,  to  a  certain  town  farther  south.  The  official  did  some 
figuring,  then  replied:  "Thirty-six  hours." 

"Have  a  train  ready  for  me  at  six  o'clock  to-morrow  morning  and 
have  me  there  by  six  o'clock  the  following  morning,"  commanded 
Kitchener,  and  the  member  of  the  stzff  who  told  me  of  the  incident 
shortly  after  it  occurred  added:  "We  were  there  by  six  o'clock,  you 
bet."  Goethals  is  like  that.  He  knows  what  it  is  physically  possible 
to  do  within  a  certain  time — and  then  orders  that  it  be  done  without 
a  tick  of  delay. 


GEORGE  W.  GOETHALS  171 

Not  many  erring  mortals  could  have  been  granted  the  regal  powers 
of  a  Czar,  entrusted  with  the  performance  of  a  colossal,  many-sided 
task,  obliged  to  deal  with  some  four-score  nationalities  and  emerge 
from  the  ordeal  successfully,  without  having  engendered  revolutionary 
sentiments,  without  having  incurred  a  breath  of  scandal,  without 
any  warping  of  character.  A  man  of  smaller  calibre  would  have 
abused  his  powers,  would  have  misused  his  prerogatives,  would  have 
developed  into  an  insufferable  and  intolerable  autocrat.  Goethals 
has  carried  immortal  honours  as  lightly  as  he  carried  his  canal-building 
"load."  He  has  become  as  little  puffed  up  by  the  military  and  civil 
recognition  showered  upon  him  as  he  became  depressed  when  great 
slices  of  Culebra  Hill  insisted  on  sliding  into  the  laboriously  hewn 
canal,  filling  the  passageway. 

The  view  he  takes  is  that  he  was  ordered  to  do  a  certain  piece  of 
work  and  that  he  did  it.  Divided  control  and  scattered  responsibility 
having  proved  unsatisfactory  to  the  Government,  it  was  deemed 
necessary  to  concentrate  authority.  "And  in  principle,"  he  says, 
"there  is  no  difference  in  delegating  legislative  authority  to  fifty  or 
one  hundred  men  or  to  one  man;  the  proposition  is  the  same." 

Curiously,  the  United  States  Government  a  second  time  called  upon 
General  Goethals  to  undertake  a  task  in  which  the  public  interest  was 
second  only  to  that  which  centred  in  the  building  of  the  Panama 
Canal.  That  job  involved  the  devising  and  constructing  of  much 
new  machinery,  new  tools  and  new  equipment  for  use  both  on  land 
and  water.  Enough  soil  was  excavated  to  fill  a  train  long  enough  to 
encircle  the  earth  many  times,  and  entailed,  also,  enough  dynamite- 
hole  boring  to  have  bored  straight  through  the  earth  from  New  York 
to  the  roots  of  some  tea  garden  in  China.  The  new  task  assigned 
Colonel  Goethals  was  also  one  of  building,  not,  however,  a  passage- 
way for  ships,  but  ships  themselves. 

Colonel  Goethals  soon  discovered  that  conditions  at  Washington 
were  not  wholly  unlike  those  he  first  found  at  Panama.  A  Govern- 
mental board,  inspired  more  by  faith  than  fact,  had  proclaimed  to  a 
world  unnerved  by  submarines  that  one  thousand  wooden  ships  of 
3,000  tons  or  more  would  be  turned  out  within  eighteen  months.  When 
the  time  came  to  turn  promises  into  performances  the  canal  builder 
was  called  in.  To  his  utter  astonishment  he  discovered  that  "birds 
were  still  nesting  in  the  trees  from  which  the  great  wooden  fleet  was 
to  be  made"  and  immediately  saw  "how  hopeless  the  task  appeared." 
Nor  had  the  bonds  set  aside  to  raise  the  necessary  money  been  sold. 

"As  I  regard  all  boards  as  long,  narrow,  and  wooden,  and  being  a 
believer  in  authority,  I  wanted  both  money  and  authority,"  Colonel 
Goethals  told  a  great  gathering  of  steel  manufacturers  in  New  York. 
Realizing  that  the  construction  of  a  thousand  wooden  ships  from  trees 


172  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

still  in  the  leaf  was  an  impossibility,  the  Colonel  turned  to  the  possi- 
bilities of  steel  shipbuilding.  And  he  adroitly  asked  the  nation's  iron 
and  steel  men  if  they  would  rally  behind  him  in  an  effort  to  launch 
3,000,000  tons  of  steel  ships  within  a  year  and  a  half,  a  question  that 
was  instantly  put  to  the  manufacturers  by  Chairman  Gary  of  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation  and  answered  in  the  affirmative  with 
unanimous  acclaim. 

As  I  sat  listening  to  the  Colonel  address  my  first  impression  was 
that  his  criticisms  of  conditions  at  Washington  were  undiplomatic; 
but  when  he  led  up  to  his  straight-from-the-shoulder  appeal  to  the 
body  of  men  who  alone  could  make  his  plans  feasible,  everyone  realized 
the  efficacy  of  his  action.  Having  secured  thus  a  pledge  of  loyal  sup- 
port. Colonel  Goethals  was  in  an  advantageous  position  to  deal  with 
these  men  when  it  came  to  making  hard-and-fast  contracts. 

No  one  realized  better  than  Colonel  Goethals  the  magnitude  of  his 
new  assignment.  However,  he  has  a  motto:  "Begin  a  work  and  in 
its  accomplishment  problems  will  often  solve  themselves." 

"Colonel  Goethals  has  been  so  long  accustomed  to  deal  with  sub- 
ordinates and  having  his  will  enforced  as  law  that  trouble  may  rise 
when  he  comes  to  deal  with  his  equals,  men  not  accustomed  to  being 
bossed  or  to  render  military  obedience,"  someone  suggested  when 
Goethals  was  named  to  build  ships.  That,  however,  was  not  the  full 
explanation  of  his  failure  to  carry  out  his  programme.  When  he 
found,  after  protracted,  to-be-deplored  delays,  that  he  could  not  have 
sufficient  freedom  to  do  effective  work,  he  simply  let  the  President 
know  that  he  was  ready  to  step  aside.  To  get  results  was  more  im- 
portant than  retention  or  resignation.     He  went  without  a  murmur. 

In  1884  General  Goethals  married  Miss  Rodman,  member  of  a 
venerable  Quaker  family,  and  there  is  another  Goethals  working  his 
way  to  the  front  as  an  army  engineer  as  well  as  a  young  Doctor 
Goethals,  the  latter  in  accordance  with  family  trait  and  tradition. 

I  should  add  that  Colonel  Goethals  was  accorded  a  very  high  place 
in  the  vote  taken  for  this  series  on  "Who  Are  Our  Fifty  Greatest 
Business  Men,  Men  Who  Are  Making  America?"  showing  how  he  is 
esteemed  by  men  of  affairs  throughout  the  country. 


DANIEL  GUGGENHEIM 


DANIEL  GUGGENHEIM 

MEYER  GUGGENHEIM  one  day  opened  his  heart  and  his 
purse  to  aid  a  friend  who  was  wrestling  heroically  with  a 
little  mining  property  in  Colorado  which  was  threatening  to 
ruin  him. 

That  act  of  kindness  over  forty  years  ago  was  the  basis  of  the  ex- 
traordinary achievements  of  the  Guggenheims  in  the  smelting  and 
mining  business. 

From  control  of  one  tiny  smelter  in  far-off  Pueblo,  Colorado,  the 
famous  Guggenheim  family,  by  industry,  tenacity,  and  sacrifice, 
have  built  up  the  greatest  mining  and  metallurgical  enterprise  the 
world  has  ever  known. 

To-day  the  Guggenheims  handle  and  control  1,000,000,000  pounds 
— 500,000  tons — of  copper  annually,  or  almost  half  the  entire  produc- 
tion of  the  world  (2,250,000,000  pounds).  They  and  their  associates 
control  the  three  largest  copper  mines  in  the  world,  the  Chile  Copper, 
the  Utah  Copper,  and  the  Kennecott  Copper  properties. 

Two  of  the  Guggenheim  companies  alone,  the  American  Smelting 
and  Refining  Company  and  the  American  Smelters  Securities  Com- 
pany, do  a  business  of  over  $300,000,000  a  year — this  exclusive  of  their 
mining  activities.  The  Guggenheims,  too,  are  the  most  powerful 
factors  in  the  silver  industry  in  the  world,  and  are  very  large  factors 
in  gold,  lead,  zinc,  and  a  variety  of  by-products. 

As  employers  of  labour  they  rank  among  the  very  largest  in  the 
world.  They  were  the  first  employers,  so  far  as  known,  to  pay  several 
employees,  in  salary  and  percentage  of  results,  compensation  running 
into  hundreds  of  thousands  a  year — rumour  said  one  man  drew  up- 
ward of  a  million  a  year. 

The  man  mainly  responsible  for  the  phenomenal  success  of  the 
Guggenheim  organization  is  Daniel  Guggenheim,  whose  judgment, 
whose  faith  in  the  future,  whose  ability  to  inspire  men,  whose  capacity 
for  hard  work,  first  under  tliC  most  tr}'ing  physical  conditions  in  re- 
mote, uncivilized  mining  camps,  and,  later,  in  the  financial  arena,  have 
won  for  him  a  high  place  among  the  developers  of  America. 

Many  sides  of  Daniel  Guggenheim  are  more  or  less  familiar  to  the 
public — his  philanthropies,  his  long  record  of  welfare  work  among 
employees,  his  practical  encouragement  of  American  painters,  his 
furtherance  of  musical  culture,  his  love  of  literature,  his  interest  in 

173 


174-  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

thoroughbred  horses,  his  fondness  for  flowers,  and  his  extraordinary 
knowledge  of  different  races  and  countries,  begotten  of  travel  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  globe. 

But  to  this  list  I  can  make  one  addition:  Mr.  Guggenheim  is  no 
mean  philosopher. 

It  took  all  my  ingenuity,  born  of  a  fairly  extensive  experience  in 
the  art  of  interviewing,  to  draw  Mr.  Guggenheim  into  revealing  this 
phase  of  his  character.  He  did  not  "open  up"  until  I  had  suggested 
that  a  great  many  people  had  the  idea  that  men  like  himself  had  not 
really  won  their  spurs  and  their  wealth  by  any  unusual  effort  but  had 
simply  been  "lucky." 

"Yes," said  Mr. Guggenheim,  "men — not  always  young  men,either 
— sometimes  come  in  here  and,  looking  around  my  office,  say:  *I 
envy  you  your  luxurious  office  and  your  opportunities  to  enjoy  the 
best  in  life.'  I  tell  them:  *It  has  taken  me  forty  years  to  earn  my 
luxurious  office  with  its  beautiful  pictures,  fresh  flowers,  and  leather- 
cushioned  furniture.  Year  after  year  I  put  up  with  tremendous  hard- 
ships, travelling  in  Mexico,  in  other  foreign  countries,  and  in  remote 
parts  of  the  United  States. 

"'You  prefer  the  luxuries  and  refinements  of  the  city,  with  its 
automobiles,  its  splendidly  appointed  homes.  You  do  not  care  to 
make  the  sacrifices  necessary  to  attain  the  success  which  can  make 
the  luxuries  possible.'" 

"What  are  some  of  the  things  necessary  to  achieve  success?"  I  asked. 

"Sacrifice,  sacrifice,  sacrifice!"  Mr.  Guggenheim  repeated  with 
impressive  earnestness  and  ardour,  his  mind  dwelling  upon  what  he 
himself  has  undergone. 

"Then,  above  all,  you  must  have  tenacity,"  he  went  on.  "That  is 
the  greatest  quality.  Without  it,  no  man  can  possibly  succeed. 
Whether  in  college,  in  a  profession,  or  in  business,  unless  a  man  is 
tenacious,  unless  he  sticks  to  a  thing  until  he  has  mastered  it,  he  has 
little  chance  of  succeeding. 

"One  failure,  you  know,  leads  to  another  failure — and  one  success 
leads  to  another  success.  Win  out  in  one  thing  before  giving  it  up 
and  trying  another. 

"Give  me  the  choice  between  a  man  of  tremendous  brains  and  abil- 
ity but  without  tenacity,  and  one  of  ordinary  brains  but  with  a  great 
deal  of  tenacity  and  I  will  select  the  tenacious  one  every  time. 

"Then,  tact  is  very  important.  I  would  rather  employ  a  person 
of  no  extraordinary  ability  but  who  had  great  tact,  than  one  of  con- 
spicuous learning  and  intelligence  without  tact. 

"Judgment,  initiative,  energy,  all  these  are  most  desirable  and 
valuable  qualities.  But,  above  all  and  beyond  all,  you  must  have 
tenacity  and  tact." 


DANIEL  GUGGENHEIM  175 

"How  did  you  manage  to  get  this  interview  with  me?"  Mr.  Gug- 
genheim suddenly  asked.  *'You  didn't  get  it  the  first  time  you  tried, 
nor  the  second.  But  you  showed  both  tenacity  and  tact.  You  kept 
at  it  until  you  discovered  a  channel  of  approach  that  you  knew  would 
probably  succeed.  Your  tenacity  got  you  in  here,  and  your  tact  has 
induced  me  to  talk  to  you  In  a  way  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  talking  for 
publication." 

One  of  Mr.  Guggenheim's  favourite  aphorisms  is,  "What  Is  every- 
body's business  is  nobody's  business."  He  therefore  sees  to  it  that 
all  details  in  connection  with  the  business  are  carefully  and  efficiently 
looked  after. 

I  asked  one  of  Mr.  Guggenheim's  closest  colleagues  what  were  his 
most  notable  qualities,  how  he  had  gained  leadership  in  the  smelting 
and  mining  business,  why  he  had  outdistanced  all  competitors.  The 
reply,  after  careful  deliberation,  was: 

"First,  because  of  his  phenomenal  judgment,  his  ability  to  size  up 
a  situation  correctly.  Second,  because  of  his  unfailing  optimism,  his 
faith  In  the  future,  his  confidence  that  the  country  and  the  metal  In- 
dustry and  science  would  progress  and  develop.  Third,  because  of 
his  extraordinary  faculty  for  handling  other  men,  for  influencing 
them  to  see  things  in  the  large  way  in  which  he  sees  them  himself;  his 
knack  of  inspiring  courage  and  determination  In  those  associated  with 
him.  Fourth,  because  of  his  policy  of  treating  his  people  thoughtfully 
and  generously — I  mean  his  work-people  as  well  as  his  executives  and 
engineers  and  others  high  up;  recently,  as  an  Instance,  American  Smelt- 
ing Insured  the  lives  of  all  Its  salaried  and  daily-wage  employees  with- 
out a  penny  of  cost  to  them.  Fifth,  because  he  has  not  been  afraid 
to  take  chances,  to  spend  one  million  dollars  in  the  chance  of  making 
ten  millions  or  fifty  millions — as  In  Chile,  for  example,  where  a  huge 
sum  was  spent  In  a  most  inaccessible  part  of  the  world  before  there 
was  any  possibility  of  Immediate  return." 

A  tiny  craft  which  left  the  shore  of  Europe  In  1847  and  was  storm- 
tossed  on  the  Atlantic  for  four  long,  painful  months  bore  to  this  land 
Simon  Guggenheim,  the  first  of  the  Guggenheims  to  come  from  Swit- 
zerland to  this  country.  With  him  came  his  son,  a  young  lad,  Meyer 
Guggenheim,  founder  of  the  Guggenheim  fortune  and  father  of  Daniel, 
the  present  head  of  the  family.  Meyer  gradually  built  up  a  manufac- 
turing business  of  considerable  size  and  variety.  He  married  a  Swiss 
lass,  Barbara  Myers,  and  to  them  was  born  the  "Seven  Guggenheims." 
The  elder  boys  entered  the  Swiss  lace  business  and  developed  it  won- 
derfully. This  field,  however,  was  limited — too  limited  for  the  com- 
bined energies  of  the  maturing  sons. 

Having,  through  kindness,  aided  a  friend  to  handle  a  mining  prop- 
erty, Meyer  Guggenheim's  attention  was  directed  to  that  sphere, 


176  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

and,  he  concluded,  was  a  field  broad  enough  for  the  activities  of  all 
his  sons. 

He  summoned  them  all  to  the  family  home  in  Philadelphia,  where 
all  the  children  had  been  born.  He  related  to  them  iEsop's  fable 
about  the  seven  sticks  which  could  be  broken  easily  when  separated 
but  which,  when  bound  together,  could  not  be  broken.  He  told  them 
that  if  they  would  all  join  and  work  together  loyally  and  industri- 
ously, they  could  achieve  what  none  of  them  could  hope  to  do 
singlehanded.  "In  union  there  is  strength"  he  impressed  upon 
them. 

Then  he  portrayed  to  them  the  potentialities  of  the  smelting  and 
mining  industry,  offered  to  help  them  to  get  a  modest  foothold 
in  it,  and  asked  their  views  of  the  project. 

No  sons  ever  had  greater  respect  for  a  father — and  few  fathers  have 
more  richly  deserved  it,  for  Meyer  Guggenheim  was  a  man  among 
men.  They  realized  the  wisdom  of  his  proposal  and  immediately 
prepared  to  act  on  it. 

He  impressed  upon  them  that,  while  he  would  aid  them,  both  finan- 
cially and  with  advice,  to  get  a  start,  "you  must  kick  for  yourselves; 
you  must  build  up  your  own  enterprise." 

As  already  told,  their  first  venture  was  a  smelter  in  Colorado.  But 
they  shortly  acquired  other  interests.  There  were  seven  of  them,  all 
active,  ambitious,  optimistic,  ready  to  rough  it  and  ready  to  go  any- 
where, do  anything,  and  suffer  anything  to  contribute  to  the  success 
of  their  new  enterprise.  No  mountaineer,  no  prospector  knew  more 
hardships  than  the  Guggenheim  brothers  voluntarily  went  through 
to  reach  a  desired  goal.  Mountain  fastnesses,  untamed  valleys,  arid 
wastes,  possessed  no  terrors  that  the  daring  young  Guggenheims 
shrunk  from  facing. 

The  Creator,  they  soon  discovered,  had  invariably  deposited  min- 
eral wealth  far  from  settled  centres  of  civilization  and  had  surrounded 
it  with  obstacles  which  only  the  pioneer  and  the  brave  elected  to  en- 
counter. A  price  had  to  be  paid  to  Nature  for  the  giving  up  of  her 
treasures. 

Daniel  Guggenheim,  with  the  other  brothers,  uncomplainingly  paid 
the  prescribed  price.  Distance  had  no  meaning  for  him  or  for  them; 
wherever  there  was  a  chance  to  achieve  something,  he  went,  no  matter 
what  the  cost  in  physical  discomfort.  He  slept  in  tents  or  wagons 
amid  wild  surroundings  as  often  as  under  a  roof.  The  food  he  not 
infrequently  ate  would  have  been  scorned  by  a  Negro  slave.  His 
business  demanded  that  he  proceed  to  the  firing  line  of  advancing 
civilization,  and  he  did  not  flinch  from  the  ordeal. 

But  the  readiness  of  Daniel  Guggenheim  and  the  other  brothers 
to  undergo  personal  hardships  was  not  the  only  reason  they  forged 


DANIEL  GUGGENHEIM  177 

ahead.  They  had  courage  and  wisdom  enough  to  engage  the  best 
and  most  expensive  engineering  and  mining  brains  procurable.  Not 
only  did  they  pay  perhaps  the  largest  salaries  then  known,  but  they 
shared  results  with  those  who  made  results  possible.  From  the  time 
he  first  became  an  employer  Daniel  Guggenheim  adopted  this  now- 
popular  but  then-revolutionary  system.  In  this  way  the  Guggen- 
heims  could  get  their  pick  of  the  world's  mining,  engineering,  and  me- 
tallurgical talent. 

Nor  is  this  all;  but  pains  were  taken  to  surround  the  workmen  with 
as  comfortable  conditions  as  circumstances  would  permit.  Perhaps 
no  family  has  built  more  schools,  hospitals,  churches,  and  recreation 
halls  for  employees.  In  inaccessible  regions  where  itinerant  enter- 
tainers never  venture,  the  Guggenheims'  own  welfare-workers  get  up 
entertainments  and  other  diversions. 

The  smelting  industry  was  revolutionized  by  the  Guggenheims. 
Before  their  advent  smelting  contracts  invariably  were  made  for  only 
one  year,  smelting  interests  being  afraid  to  take  the  risk  of  advancing 
wages  and  rising  costs  over  a  series  of  years.  Daniel  Guggenheim 
began  taking  five-year,  ten-year,  and  even  twenty-five  year  smelting 
contracts  at  prices  which  sometimes  appeared  suicidal  at  the  time. 
But  he  was  enough  of  a  student  of  history,  of  science,  of  engineering, 
of  chemistry,  of  transportation,  and  of  economic  evolution  to  have 
faith  amounting  to  conviction  that  improved  processes  would  be 
devised  to  reduce  smelting  and  mining  costs  suflftciently  to  yield  a 
profit  in  the  future. 

"If  we  can't  discover  scientific  methods  to  lower  our  costs  long 
before  this  contract  expires,  we  deserve  to  lose  our  business,"  was  how 
he  expressed  himself  to  one  associate  who  questioned  the  advisability 
of  a  certain  proposed  contract. 

When  the  Guggenheims  embarked  in  the  Utah  Copper  Company, 
in  1905,  few  people  believed  that  the  property  could  be  made  to  pay, 
the  ore  was  of  such  low  grade.  Yet  Daniel  Guggenheim  championed 
the  building  of  a  $6,000,000  smelter  and  a  $2,000,000  copper  refining 
plant  to  handle  material  which  previously  had  never  been  handled 
at  a  profit.  It  contained  only  twenty  to  thirty  pounds  of  copper  to 
pay  all  the  expenses  of  mining,  smelting,  refining,  transportation, 
selling,  etc.  His  daring  expenditure  of  this  $8,000,000  has  proved 
one  of  the  most  profitable  things  the  Guggenheims  ever  did,  as  the 
mine  is  now  ranked  as  the  second  largest  in  the  world  and  pays  hand- 
some dividends. 

Then  look  at  what  the  Guggenheims  are  doing  in  Chile.  The  Chile 
Copper  property  is  ensconced  in  a  remote,  barren,  mountainous  desert 
9,500  feet  above  sea  level,  In  a  region  where  rain  has  not  fallen  within 
the  memory  of  man,  where  vegetation  is  unknown,  where  water  has 


178  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

to  be  carried  a  distance  of  forty  miles  to  the  mine,'where  power  has  to 
be  transmitted  a  distance  of  eighty-five  miles  from  the  power  house 
to  the  mine,  where  roads  are  non-existent — where,  in  short,  there  is 
nothing  to  attract  and  everything  to  repel  human  beings.  Into  that 
forbidding  region  went  the  Guggenheims,  decided  to  spend  many 
millions  in  making  it  habitable,  at  once  set  the  necessary  complex 
machinery  in  motion — and  now  the  Chile  Copper  Company  has  the 
largest  developed  body  of  copper  ore  in  the  world. 

Daniel  Guggenheim,  I  have  learned  from  his  associates,  was  the 
man  who,  in  face  of  universal  skepticism  and  discouragement,  insisted 
upon  the  investment  of  many  millions  of  dollars  in  Alaska.  The 
Bonanza  mine,  now  belonging  to  the  Kennecott  Copper  Company, 
was  simply  a  large  body  of  copper  which  had  been  melted  by  nature, 
then  corroded  by  glaciers  and  left  perched  on  a  hill.  Although  it 
contained  from  65  to  85  per  cent,  copper,  not  a  pound  was  won  from  it 
between  its  discovery  (in  1901)  and  191 1  because  it  was  beyond  reach 
of  transportation.  Daniel  Guggenheim  set  about  the  purchase  of  a 
half  interest  in  the  mine  and  agreed  to  build  transportation  within 
two  years  to  get  the  copper  out. 

When  questioned,  Mr.  Guggenheim  said:  "If  we  think  it  is  good 
business  we  will  go  anywhere  in  the  world  whether  it  is  Alaska,  Chile, 
Mexico,  or  South  America,  Africa,  or  the  Orient.  If  a  lot  of  metal 
were  found  in  the  Arctic  we  would  go  after  it.  We  know  no  distance 
and  no  barriers  in  our  business."  Before  he  was  40  Mr.  Guggenheim 
had  crossed  the  Atlantic  Ocean  seventy  times. 

"Roasted  pigeons  don't  fly  into  one's  mouth,"  Mr.  Guggenheim 
went  on  to  explain.  "You  have  to  discover  a  pigeon,  you  have  to  be 
able  to  shoot  him,  then  you  must  clean  him  and  roast  him  before  you 
can  eat  him.     So  it  is  with  business. 

"The  Almighty  has  put  ores  far  away  from  where  human  beings  are. 
That  is  why  the  mining  business  appeals  to  so  few  people.  The 
average  New  Yorker  wants  to  stay  in  New  York,  surrounded  with 
luxuries.  He  is  not  willing  to  go  to  foreign  countries  or  to  uncouth 
regions,  putting  up  with  all  sorts  of  inconveniences,  to  find  properties 
and  develop  them.  He  shrinks  from  spending  twenty  or  thirty  or 
forty  years  meeting  tremendous  hardships. 

"You  cannot  find  copper,  lead,  silver,  or  gold  mines  in  New  York 
City.  You  must  go  to  inaccessible  and  sometimes  uninhabited 
places,  where  everything  is  crude  and  rough  and  uncomfortable  and 
unsatisfactory.  About  the  only  enjoyment  you  get  is  the  enjoyment 
of  developing  your  business.  You  can  get  very  little  music  and  you 
have  no  cushioned  chairs  or  rugs  or  fine  pictures.  You  have  to  work 
all  day  like  a  slave  and  then  perhaps  read  a  little  at  night  by  the 
light  of  an  oil  lamp. 


DANIEL  GUGGENHEIM  179 

"The  opportunities  are  as  plentiful  to-day  as  they  ever  were,  if  a 
man  is  willing  to  make  the  necessary  sacrifices.  No  man,  no  matter 
what  his  vocation,  can  attain  genuine  success  without  making  sacri- 
fices. Nothing  worth  while  can  be  got  anywhere  for  nothing. 
Things  we  get  for  nothing  we  do  not  enjoy.  The  enjoyment  comes 
from  the  hard  work,  the  severe  effort,  and  the  sacrifice  entailed  in 
getting  the  thing — and  the  greater  the  sacrifice  the  greater  the 
pjeasure.  Work  and  labour  and  study  and  sacrifice  are  all  neces- 
sary to  winning  the  kind  of  success  that  brings  satisfaction  with 
it. 

"When  we  started  In  the  metal  business  my  father,  I  well  remember, 
said  to  us:  'You  boys  have  got  to  do  the  trick  yourselves  by  hard 
work  and  by  not  being  afraid  to  make  sacrifices.  But  let  me  tell  you, 
no  sacrifice  is  too  great  to  accomplish  what  you  go  after.  You  will 
be  fully  repaid  if  you  will  use  your  brains  and  make  sacrifices  until 
you  reach  your  object.* 

"When  you  ask  me,  therefore,  for  some  advice  for  young  men  I 
would  repeat  that  given  us  by  my  father — and,  I  may  add,  what  I 
have  already  said:     'Roasted  pigeons  do  not  fly  into  one's  mouth.'" 

For  twenty  years  or  more  the  "Seven  Guggenheim  Brothers," 
Isaac,  Daniel,  Murry,  Solomon,  Simon,  Benjamin,  and  William, 
worked  hand  in  hand  enthusiastically  and  unsparingly.  Their  rami- 
fications in  their  field  had  already  eclipsed  all  rivals  when,  under  the 
leadership  of  Daniel,  they  merged  their  interests  and  took  over  the 
American  Smelting  &  Refining  Company.  The  truth  of  the  words 
of  their  father,  "In  union  there  is  strength,"  has  been  abundantly 
demonstrated  by  the  record  of  his  sons. 

When  the  United  States  Government  first  wanted  to  obtain  a 
large  quantity  of  copper  for  war  purposes  Daniel  Guggenheim  took  a 
lead  in  seeing  that  it  was  provided  promptly  and  at  a  figure  only  half 
that  prevailing  in  the  open  market. 

Although  Daniel  Guggenheim  is  still  head  of  the  American  Smelting 
&  Refining  Co.  and  the  American  Smelters  Securities  Co.,  he  does  not 
work  quite  so  hard  as  of  yore,  because  he  has  other  interests  which 
now  appeal  to  him  more  than  money-making.  Also,  many  of  his 
mining  burdens  are  now  being  capably  carried  by  his  son,  Harry  F. 
Guggenheim,  who,  after  distinguishing  himself  both  as  a  scholar  and 
an  athlete  at  Cambridge  University,  England,  carried  out  the  tradi- 
tions of  his  family  for  industry  and  sacrifice  by  spending  a  number  of 
years  "at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder"  in  mines  and  metallurgical  plants 
in  Mexico,  before  taking  his  place  at  the  council  table  of  the  great 
mining  firm. 

Although  an  ardent  believer  in  hard  work,  Mr.  Guggenheim  is  a 
strong  advocate  of  vacations.     "I  believe,"  he  told  me,  "that  a  man 


i8o  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMEYICA 

who  works  twelve  months  in  the  year  does  not  work  more  than  six 
months.  It  is  the  man  who  works  ten  to  eleven  months  and  does 
something  else  for  one  to  two  months  who  works  twelve  months.  I 
insist  upon  every  man  and  boy  in  our  employ  taking  an  annual  vaca- 
tion. 

"Another  rule  we  have  is  that  boys  must  be  treated  with  just  as 
much  consideration  as  any  one  else  in  the  whole  organization.  If  a 
boy  comes  with  a  message  from  others,  or  on  any  other  duty,  he  must 
not  be  kept  waiting,  for  his  time  is  just  as  valuable  to  him  as  mine  is 
to  me." 

Next  to  the  Rockefellers,  the  Guggenheim  family  is  probably  the 
wealthiest  in  the  country.  Both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Guggenheim  are 
noted  philanthropists.  In  dispensing  their  benefactions  they  make 
no  difference  in  the  matters  of  race,  creed,  or  religion.  In  their  early 
days  Mrs.  Guggenheim  did  not  hesitate  to  share  her  husband's  hard- 
ships on  the  firing  line. 

Having  sowed  wisely  in  the  morning  and  forenoon  of  his  life,  he  is 
now,  in  the  afternoon,  reaping  a  full  harvest. 


JOHN  HAYS  HAMMOND 


JOHN  HAYS  HAMMOND 

A  MERICA  can  claim  the  man  who  more  than  any  other  human 
/•\  being  has  coaxed  Mother  Earth  to  give  up  her  hidden  precious 
■^  -^  metals.  No  other  figure  in  history  ever  added  so  much  to 
mankind's  supplies  of  gold  and  silver.  Through  his  efforts  mines  in 
the  United  States,  Africa,  Mexico,  South  America,  Central  America, 
and  Russia  have  added  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  to  the  world's 
wealth. 

Latterly  his  activities  in  discovering  riches  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  have  been  supplemented  by  operations  on  a  colossal  scale  to 
irrigate  and  fructify  the  earth's  surface  for  the  sustenance  of  mankind. 
He  has  been  a  pioneer  in  the  building  of  electric  tramways  in  South 
Africa  and  Mexico,  and  hydro-electric  power  plants  in  different  parts 
of  the  world. 

These  achievements  have  entailed  adventures,  dangers,  and  hard- 
ships such  as  have  befallen  few  men.  Besieged  and  shot  at  by  semi- 
savages,  perilous  journeys  among  cannibals,  stranded  and  starved 
for  three  days  in  a  fastness  far  from  civilization,  imprisoned  and  sen- 
tenced to  death,  with  the  gallows  oiled  and  manned  ready  to  do  its 
work — these  are  some  of  the  experiences  the  shuttle  has  woven  into 
the  life  of  John  Hays  Hammond,  recognized  as  the  world's  greatest 
mining  engineer. 

"How  did  it  feel  to  be  sentenced  to  death  ?"  I  asked  Mr.  Hammond. 
[I  had  lived  in  South  Africa  and  was  familiar  with  the  circumstances 
of  the  memorable  Jameson  Raid  which  led  up  to  his  arrest  and  trial 
by  Paul  Kruger,  then  president  of  the  Transvaal  Republic] 

"I  was  angry,  not  afraid,"  Mr.  Hammond  replied  with  some  fire, 
for  we  had  been  recalling  those  historical  days.  "As  you  know,  we 
had  arranged  to  plead  guilty  under  one  code  of  laws  which  punished 
treason  by  imprisonment,  but  were  tricked  and  trapped  by  the  Boer 
prosecutor  into  being  sentenced  under  another  code  carrying  the 
death  penalty.     I  felt  mad,  indignant,  outraged. 

"I  have  had  experiences  more  exciting  and  dangerous  than  those 
I  went  through  in  South  Africa,  only  they  were  not  so  spectacular," 
Mr.  Hammond  added,  when  I  questioned  him.  Almost  from  the 
time  he  could  toddle,  John  Hays  Hammond  wanted  to  get  at  the 
inside  of  things,  to  explore,  to  make  discoveries.  His  father,  a  gradu- 
ate of  West  Point  and  an  ex-oflficer  of  artillery  in  the  Mexican  War, 

i8i 


182 


MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 


encouraged  this  inquisitive  spirit,  while  his  mother,  a  sister  of  John 
CofFee  Hays,  the  famous  Texas  ranger  and  later  the  first  sheriff  of 
San  Francisco,  sympathized  with  his  love  for  outdoor  activities.  He 
early  learned  to  ride,  shoot,  swim,  penetrate  forests,  camp  out,  hunt, 
and  the  like.  From  the  public  schools  in  San  Francisco,  where  he 
was  born  on  March  31,  1855,  he  went  to  grammar  school  in  New 
Haven  to  prepare  for  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale  University. 
He  was  bent  upon  being  an  engineer,  a  mining  engineer  for  preference, 
since  he  could  then  burrow  into  the  ground  and  find  out  hidden  things, 
including  perhaps  gold,  of  which  he  had  seen  a  great  deal,  having 
lived  in  the  mining  districts  of  California  during  summer  vacations. 
His  father  was  old-fashioned  and  erudite  enough  to  prescribe  a  full 
classical  course  in  addition  to  the  regular  scientific  curriculum,  for  he 
wanted  the  boy  to  understand  Greek  and  Latin  as  well  as  ore  and 
chemicals.  Graduation  from  Yale,  in  1876,  with  a  Ph.B.  degree,  was 
followed  by  a  post-graduate  course  at  the  Royal  School  of  Mines 
at  Freiberg,  Saxony,  until  1879. 

The  young  man  wanted  to  see  something  of  the  lands  that  lay 
beyond  the  curve  of  the  Atlantic.  The  Hammond  boys — John  Hays 
was  the  oldest  of  four — had  early  earned  a  reputation  as  travellers 
and  explorers  in  California.  Indeed,  they  used  to  hold  competitions 
regarding  the  number  of  counties  each  would  visit. 

Once,  while  under  the  temporary  guardianship  of  an  aunt,  John 
Hays,  then  fifteen,  and  a  younger  brother  started  to  explore  the  tracks 
of  the  Yosemite  Valley  and  became  so  fascinated  with  their  exploit 
that  they  went  on  and  on,  staying  a  night  or  two  at  a  mine,  another 
at  some  prospector's  shanty,  another  sleeping  out  in  the  open,  riding 
sometimes  fifty  miles  a  day  until  they  turned  up  nearly  500  miles 
away,  in  Nevada,  after  the  countryside  had  been  searching  for  them 
for  two  or  three  weeks! 

"That  trip,"  said  Mr.  Hammond  reminiscently,  "taught  us  self- 
reliance,  for  we  had  to  learn  how  to  take  care  of  our  horses,  how  to 
handle  ourselves,  how  to  meet  all  sorts  of  people,  and  how  to  get 
accustomed  to  having  the  starry  heavens  as  our  bed-chamber  ceil- 
ing." 

An  attractive  railroad  position  was  refused  by  young  Hammond 
on  his  return  from  Freiberg.  Senator  Hearst,  father  of  William  Ran- 
dolph Hearst,  was  then  a  foremost  mine  owner  in  the  West,  and  Ham- 
mond tackled  him  for  a  job.  The  Senator  was  a  hard-headed,  practi- 
cal man,  and  had  had  reason  for  being  little  enamoured  of  collar-and- 
cuff,  theoretical  mining  engineers. 

"The  only  objection  I  have  to  you  is  that  you  have  been  in  Freiberg 
and  have  had  your  head  filled  with  a  lot  of  fool  theories.  I  don't 
want  any  kid-glove  engineers,"  the  brusque  Senator  told  him. 


JOHN  HAYS  HAMMOND  183 

"If  you  promise  not  to  tell  my  father,  I  will  tell  you  something," 
Hammond  countered. 

The  Senator  promised. 

"I  didn't  learn  a  single  thing  in  Germany!" 

"Come  around  and  start  work  to-morrow,"  clinched  the  Senator. 

Young  Hammond  started  next  morning  at  seven  o'clock  and  kept 
on  the  job  daily  for  at  least  twelve  hours.  Senator  Hearst  was  then 
negotiating  for  a  number  of  properties  and  Hammond  conducted  ore 
tests  on  the  results  of  which  his  employer  invested  millions  of  dollars. 

A  year  later  a  wider  door  opened;  Hammond  joined  the  United 
States  Geological  Service  as  an  examiner  of  gold  mines.  He  kept  his 
eyes  open,  noted  the  different  formations  at  different  mines,  studied 
geology  enthusiastically,  and  gradually  cultivated  a  nose  for  mines. 
In  the  following  year,  1881,  he  took  practical  training  as  a  miner,  as 
a  foreman,  and  as  a  handy  man  in  the  mills.  He  contrived,  also,  to 
pay  return  visits  to  mines  he  had  previously  examined,  and  in  this 
way  was  able  to  note  the  unfolding  of  their  development.  His  knowl- 
edge enabled  him  to  diagnose,  analyze,  and  appraise  ore  bodies  beyond 
the  miner's  pick.  The  whole  thing  fascinated  him.  It  was  not 
merely  a  thrilling  way  to  earn  a  living  and  spend  a  life,  but  it  added 
to  the  world's  wealth,  it  brought  new  resources  into  existence,  and  it 
afforded  profitable  employment  to  thousands  of  workers.  He  en- 
joyed— and  still  enjoys — visiting  a  mine  more  than  visiting  the  opera 
house  or  theatre. 

Hammond's  first  professional  trip  to  alien  soil  proved  perilous. 
He  was  commissioned  in  1882  to  penetrate  into  Mexico  some  250 
miles  from  Guaymas.  On  landing  on  the  Mexican  west  coast  from 
a  sailing  boat  which  had  been  chartered  to  carry  mining  machinery, 
Hammond  found  that  the  Apache  Indians  were  on  the  war  path 
and  that  the  long  journey  to  the  interior  by  stage  would  have  to  be 
done  under  cover  of  darkness.  The  first  night  out  the  drunken 
driver  upset  the  coach;  one  man  sitting  opposite  Hammond  was  killed 
and  another  so  hurt  that  he  died  next  morning. 

Finally  reaching  the  mines,  Hammond  found  that  the  natives  were 
systematically  stealing  the  best  ores.  So  he  had  himself  appointed  a 
special  officer  with  power  to  arrest  and  soon  terrorized  the  thieves,  who 
did  not  relish  either  imprisonment  or  the  alternative  decree,  enlist- 
ment in  the  army. 

Conditions  improved  sufficiently  to  warrant  Mrs.  Hammond's 
joining  her  husband.  The  second  day  after  she  arrived  at  Guaymas, 
with  a  young  baby,  a  revolution  broke  out.  Hammond  promptly 
commandeered  a  small  house,  barricaded  it,  and  prepared  to  defend 
the  fort,  which  was  besieged  by  brigands;  but  he  had  learned  in 
California  to  use  a  gun  with  the  best  of  them,  and  the  besiegers,  dis- 


x84  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

cerning  this,  departed  after  a  few  days.  During  the  long  journey 
to  the  interior  the  party  came  upon  a  village  which  the  Indians  had 
cleaned  out  completely,  the  only  living  things  in  sight  being  a  few 
chickens  in  place  of  the  200  population  which  Hammond  had  found 
on  his  journey  coastwise.  How  near  the  Indians  might  be  or  how 
soon  they  might  appear  on  the  scene,  no  one  could  guess.  If  the 
Indians  found  the  little  American  party,  it  meant  its  annihilation. 

Fifty  miles  of  dangerous  territory  had  to  be  covered.  Armed  to 
the  teeth,  Hammond  rode  a  mile  or  two  ahead,  signalling  to  the 
team.  Mrs.  Hammond  had  a  pistol  with  which  to  commit  suicide 
rather  than  submit  to  capture.  However,  the  destination,  Alamos, 
southern  Sonora,  was  reached  safely. 

Mrs.  Hammond  stayed  until  the  poor  food  began  to  undermine  the 
health  of  the  child.  Mr.  Hammond  remained  until  he  had  the  mine 
on  a  profitable  basis  and  everything  working  smoothly.  Before  he 
was  ready  to  depart,  revolutionists  seized  the  mint  at  Alamos,  the 
only  one  on  the  western  coast,  and  began  to  rob  and  cheat  the 
company  shamefully,  refusing  to  pay  the  full  amount  for  the  bullion 
deposited.  Hammond  conceived  the  plan  of  accumulating  the  silver 
and  then  slipping  away  with  it,  to  deliver  it  to  the  American  Consul 
at  Guaymas. 

He  had  trained  ten  Yaqui  Indians  to  shoot,  and  by  their  loyal  assis- 
tance had  been  able  to  resist  attacks  by  ten  times  as  many  Mexicans 
at  critical  times.  Loading  picked  mules  with  150  pounds  of  silver 
each,  and  taking  the  trusted  Yaqui  Indians  into  his  confidence, 
Hammond  bolted  one  night  in  a  terrible  thunder-storm,  when  no 
Mexicans  were  about.  A  relay  of  mules  was  in  readiness  seventy 
miles  away,  and,  by  travelling  all  that  night  and  next  day,  Hammond 
got  a  good  start  of  his  pursuers — who,  of  course,  took  up  the  chase  as 
soon  as  they  found  what  had  happened.  When  about  100  miles 
from  Alamos,  Hammond  learned  that  the  Yaqui  Indians  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood were  on  the  war  path  against  the  Mexicans  and  that  the 
Apache  Indians  were  up  in  arms  against  the  Americans.  There  were 
Apaches  to  the  right,  Yaqui  Indians  to  the  left,  and  Mexicans  In  the 
rear,  all  on  the  rampage,  thirsting  for  the  blood  and  the  plunder  of 
the  North  American  Intruder,  the  only  white  man  of  the  company. 
The  famous  "Light  Brigade"  was  in  little  worse  plight  than  the 
hunted  Hammond  party.  The  ten  faithful  Yaquls  could  easily  have 
betrayed  their  master  and  received  big  rewards  for  delivering  so 
much  booty.  But  they  stood  by  him,  guided  him  through  the 
enemy-ridden  territory,  and  landed  him  safely  at  Guaymas. 

Incidentally,  after  the  Diaz  revolution,  and  when  Madero  was  in 
power,  Hammond  offered  to  go,  singlehanded,  Into  the  fastnesses  of 
the  Yaquls,  bring  them  down  to  property  controlled  by  Hammond 


JOHN  HAYS  HAMMOND  185 

and  his  associates  and  pay  them  sufficient  wages  to  enable  them  to 
build  homes  and  raise  families  if  the  Mexican  Government  would 
grant  them  amnesty,  Hammond  pledging  his  company  to  make  good 
any  damage  thereafter  done  by  the  Yaquis.  Madero  was  murdered, 
however,  before  he  had  opportunity  to  carry  through  the  arrange- 
ment. Had  Hammond's  plan  been  carried  out,  the  subsequent  up- 
rising of  the  Yaquis  would  doubtless  have  been  avoided  and  the 
damage  done  averted. 

"The  Yaquis  were  the  most  honourable  and  honest  tribe  I  ever  met, 
far  more  so  than  white  people,  when  treated  fairly,"  Mr.  Hammond 
declares. 

Even  more  exciting  were  some  of  Mr.  Hammond's  experiences  in 
the  little-known  region  of  the  Andes.  Accompanied  by  only  two 
natives,  he  travelled  over  the  third  range  of  the  Andes,  between  the 
headwaters  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  Amazon.  Gold  was  being  brought 
down  by  natives  from  that  region  and  Hammond  went  to  investigate. 
His  guides'  plans  miscarried,  and  the  three  found  themselves  stranded 
in  the  jungle.  For  three  days  they  were  without  food.  After  that 
the  natives  unearthed  some  beans,  which  looked  like  coffee,  and  this 
sustained  life  until  relief  came. 

The  final  stage  of  the  journey  had  to  be  made  without  horses  or 
transportation  of  any  kind.  There  were  no  trails.  The  trio  fol- 
lowed the  creeks,  wading  through  one  after  another  the  whole  day. 

In  this  remote  spot  Hammond  discovered  a  little  mining  community 
v/here  the  mining  was  done  by  the  Negro  women.  The  woman  who 
was  the  boss  and  who  brought  gold  for  the  visitor  to  test  disappeared 
for  two  days.  When  she  returned,  the  third  day,  her  husband  disap- 
peared. Much  cross-questioning  revealed  that  the  woman  had  had 
a  child  and  that  the  primitive  custom  of  couvade  was  still  being  prac- 
tised there;  that  is,  the  father  took  the  place  of  the  mother  in  bed,  was 
regaled  v.ith  delicacies,  received  visits  and  congratulations  from  all 
the  neighbours,  and  was  treated  in  every  way  as  mothers  are  in  more 
civilized  communities! 

Cannibals  also  were  encountered  by  Mr.  Hammond  during  this  so- 
journ in  South  America,  but  they  made  no  attempt  to  molest  him. 

In  his  own  country,  too,  the  mining  engineer  and  manager  has  had 
his  full  share  of  the  rough-and-tumble  life  of  pioneer  mining.  Serious 
labour  troubles  broke  out  in  the  Bunker  Hill  and  Sullivan  mine  in 
the  Coeur  d'Alene  district  of  Idaho.  Strikers  were  led  by  such  fire- 
brands as  Haywood  and  Moyer.  Hammond  was  determined  to  keep 
the  mine  going.  Collecting  a  trainload  of  men,  he  mounted  the 
engine  and  rushed  through  the  danger  zone  at  the  peril  of  running  on 
to  dynamited  bridges,  being  shot  by  incensed  strikers,  etc.  In  riots 
which  followed  shortly  thereafter  quite  a  number  were  killed. 


i86  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

It  was  during  those  bloody  days  that  Hammond,  a  marked  man,  on 
learning  that  the  rioters  were  accusing  him  of  being  afraid  to  venture 
out,  coolly  announced  one  evening  that  he  would  walk  down  the  street 
next  noon.  Armed  with  two  revolvers,  he  started  off  entirely  unac- 
companied. Great  excitement  stirred.  Rioters  followed  him,  and 
one  or  two  got  directly  in  his  path,  but  a  significant  little  movement  of 
the  hand  proved  an  effective  passport.  Reaching  the  end  of  the 
street  he  crossed  to  the  other  side  and  walked  the  whole  way  back. 
After  that  the  miners  had  a  healthy  respect  for  the  young  Californian. 

By  the  early  nineties  Hammond  had  won  a  reputation  as  a  spotter 
of  paying  propositions.  Before  his  day  mining  "experts"  were  mostly 
of  the  home-made,  pick-and-shovel,  rule-of-thumb  variety,  knowing 
little  or  nothing  of  geology  or  metallurgy  or  any  other  scientific  aids. 
Numbers  of  the  first  university-trained  mining  engineers  brought  the 
new  profession  into  more  or  less  disrepute  by  their  dilettante  ways, 
their  aversion  to  incurring  hardships  entailed  in  penetrating  remote 
spots  and  living  the  crude  life  of  on-thc-ground  pioneers.  Hammond, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  proved  his  ability  to  go  anywhere,  civilized  or 
uncivilized,  on  an  hour's  warning. 

The  greatest  goldfields  in  the  world  were  then,  as  now,  in  the  Trans- 
vaal. A  famous  South  African  magnate,  Barney  Barnato,  in  1893, 
secured  the  services  of  the  brilliant  American  engineer.  Hammond 
lost  no  time  in  investigating  the  geological  formations  of  the  gold  reef 
at  Johannesburg.  His  study  convinced  him  that,  though  only  out- 
crop properties  were  then  being  worked,  vast  quantities  of  rich  ore 
would  be  found  at  deep  levels.  When  Barnato  would  not  venture 
upon  so  dubious  and  costly  a  venture,  Hammond,  convinced  of  the 
soundness  and  the  value  of  his  plan,  quit. 

Within  a  few  hours  of  this  news  becoming  known,  the  American  re- 
ceived a  telegram  from  Cecil  Rhodes,  the  greatest  figure  in  British 
Colonial  history  and  one  of  the  most  notable  men  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  When  Hammond  arrived  at  Groot  Schuur,  the  quaint  resi- 
dence of  Rhodes,  near  Cape  Town,  the  Empire  Builder  opened  their 
business  interview  thus: 

"I  don't  suppose  you  came  to  Africa  for  your  health?" 

"No,  the  climate  of  California  is  better,"  Hammond  replied  smil- 
ingly. 

"Name  your  salary.     Don't  be  modest,"  Rhodes  commanded. 

Hammond  obeyed.  A  salary  of  $100,000  a  year  was  a  secondary 
item  in  his  terms;  he  stipulated  for  a  share  of  profits.  Also,  that 
Rhodes  and  not  any  board  of  directors  should  be  his  sole  boss. 

Rhodes  had  such  faith  in  Hammond's  ability  that  when  the  latter 
urged  that  the  Colossus  sell  many  million  dollars'  worth  of  shares  in 
outcrop  mines  and  stake  his  fortune  on  the  development  of  deep  levels. 


JOHN  HAYS  HAMMOND  187 

then  purchasable  for  a  song,  the  scheme  was  immediately  taken  up. 
Hammond  became  the  father  of  the  deep-level  mining  on  the  Rand, 
which  is  adding  to  the  world's  stock  of  gold  many  million  dollars  a 
year  in  the  Transvaal  alone,  to  say  nothing  of  what  the  example  then 
set  has  meant  for  mining  throughout  the  world. 

Another  thing  that  appealed  to  the  imagination  of  the  founder  of 
Rhodesia  was  the  tradition  that  King  Solomon's  mines,  of  Biblical 
fame,  were  located  in  Mashonaland,  now  Rhodesia,  and  he  proposed 
an  exploration.  He  and  Doctor  Jameson  accompanied  Hammond  and 
his  party  hundreds  of  miles  through  fever-saturated  country.  The 
last  lap  was  undertaken  by  the  engineer  and  a  few  sturdy  natives. 
They  found  the  3,000-year-old  El  Dorado.  Hammond  decided  it 
could  be  re-opened  profitably,  and  the  mines  are  now  producing 
$20,000,000  a  year. 

"Rhodes,"  said  Mr.  Hammond,  "was  by  far  the  greatest  man  I 
have  ever  met.  He  had  unlimited  vision,  extraordinary  perception, 
unbounded  courage.  He  always  insisted  on  looking  at  every  business 
transaction  from  the  other  side's  point  of  view  and  scorned  to  take 
advantage  of  anyone.  Had  Britain  heeded  his  early  advice  there 
would  have  been  no  Boer  War.  He  cared  nothing  for  money  except 
as  an  instrument  to  achieve  great,  worthy  ends.  Had  money  been  his 
aim,  he  could  have  left  $200,000,000  or  $300,000,000  instead  of 
$20,000,000." 

Into  the  details  of  the  abortive  Jameson  Raid  which  brought  the 
death  sentence  to  Hammond  and  three  others,  I  cannot  here  enter; 
but  from  first-hand  knowledge  gathered  on  the  spot  I  can  state  briefly 
the  part  played  by  the  American  leader  of  the  Reform  Committee. 
The  Uitlanders,  as  the  non-Boer  residents  of  the  Transvaal  were 
called,  were  paying  nine-tenths  of  the  Republic's  taxes,  yet  were 
denied  not  only  representation  but  the  most  elementary  civic  liberties. 
Kruger  kept  promising  but  never  granting  reforms.  Finally,  when 
he  realized  that  an  uprising  was  planned,  he  offered  to  grant  all  the 
Reformers'  demands  if  they  would  leave  the  Jews  and  the  Catholics 
outside  the  pale.  This  treachery  Hammond  and  his  colleagues  would 
not  countenance.  The  revolution  was  not  a  movement  to  annex  the 
Boer  Republic  to  the  British  Empire.  When  somebody  suggested 
hoisting  a  British  flag  over  the  meeting  place  of  the  Reform  Committee 
the  Boer  flag  was  at  once  raised  and  Hammond  proclaimed  that  he 
would  shoot  any  man  who  dared  lower  the  national  emblem. 

Doctor  Jameson,  then  Commissioner  of  Rhodesia  and  a  man  of 
overwhelming  ambition,  had  raised  troops  which  were  not  to  cross  the 
Transvaal  border  until  summoned  by  the  Johannesburg  Reformers  to 
aid  them  in  overcoming  any  Boer  resistance  that  might  be  offered. 
Jameson,  however,  invaded  the  Transvaal  Republic  before  the  Re- 


1 88  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

formers  were  ready  to  rise  and  he  was  surrounded  and  compelled  to 
surrender.  The  British  High  Commissioner  at  Cape  Town  induced 
the  Reformers  to  lay  down  arms,  promising  them,  after  he  had  com- 
municated with  Kruger,  safety  and  reasonable  reforms. 

No  sooner  had  the  Uitlanders  given  up  their  arms  than  sixty  or 
seventy  of  the  Reformers  were  arrested.  This  created  the  utmost  in- 
dignation but,  virtually  deserted  by  the  British  Government,  the 
Uitlanders  could  do  nothing.  The  trial  of  the  Reformers  is  a  matter 
of  history. 

What  may  not  be  generally  known  is  that  John  Hays  Hammond, 
while  awaiting  sentence,  was  allowed  to  journey  to  Cape  Town  in  what 
appeared  to  be  a  forlorn  attempt  to  prevent  his  death  from  illness. 
While  at  the  British  port  he  had  abundant  opportunity  to  flee  the 
country,  but  he  scorned  to  decamp.  He  elected  rather  to  undertake 
a  three  days'  return  railway  journey,  lying  helpless  on  his  back,  and 
to  run  the  gauntlet  of  hostile  Boers,  who  were  planning  to  waylay  the 
train  avowedly  with  the  intention  of  killing  him.  His  bravery,  how- 
ever, captivated  the  Boers.  The  courage  and  devotion,  also,  of  Mrs. 
Hammond  in  sticking  by  her  husband's  side  in  Johannesburg  and 
Pretoria  and  through  the  upheaval,  won  the  admiration  of  "Oom 
Paul."  Kruger  likewise  believed  in  the  sincerity  of  Hammond's 
motives;  he  realized  that  what  this  American  wanted  was  to  set  up  a 
republic  where  all  would  have  equal  rights,  a  republic  after  the 
pattern  of  the  United  States. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  after  Hammond,  along  with  his  three  associates, 
had  been  released  by  paying  a  ransom  of  ^125,000  each,  Kruger  used 
to  tell  the  Uitlanders  when  they  had  grievances  that  he  wanted  to  deal 
with  "this  Republican  Hammond."  Hammond  subsequently,  at 
Kruger's  request,  became  a  mediator  in  the  negotiations  which  pre- 
ceded the  Boer  War  in  1900. 

After  the  war,  John  Hays  Hammond,  at  a  notable  banquet  in 
London,  pleaded  with  the  highest  British  authorities  for  magnanimous 
treatment  of  the  Boers.  He  urged  a  policy  of  conciliation  which  in 
time  would  make  possible  the  confederation  of  South  Africa.  He 
pointed  out  that,  owing  to  their  numerical  strength,  the  Dutch  would 
inevitably  gain  the  upper  hand  at  the  polls  and  it  would  be  the 
part  of  statesmanship  to  grant  voluntarily  and  wholeheartedly  that 
which  would  have  to  be  granted  nolens  volens  sooner  or  later.  "He 
gives  twice  who  gives  quickly,"  was  the  pith  of  Mr.  Hammond's 
exhortation. 

How  abundantly  successful  this  policy  has  proved  history,  par- 
ticularly the  part  played  by  the  Boers  during  the  present  war,  has 
demonstrated. 

The  most  gripping  account  of  this  chapter  of  John  Hays  Ham- 


JOHN  HAYS  HAMMOND  189 

mond's  career  is  contained  in  a  little  volume,  "A  Woman's  Part  in  a 
Revolution,"  written  by  Mrs.  Hammond. 

After  the  outbreak  of  the  Boer  War  Mr.  Hammond  returned  to  the 
United  States,  in  1900.  He  made  investigations  for  English  interests 
and  attracted  millions  of  capital  here.  At  his  say-so  a  town  would 
spring  up  on  some  spot  almost  overnight.  Of  course,  Hammond's 
judgment  was  not  then  or  at  any  earlier  period  infallible.  He  some- 
times made  mistakes,  but  his  successes  were  so  notable  that  the 
Guggenheims,  in  1903,  engaged  him  at  reputedly  the  highest  remuner- 
ation paid  any  employee  in  the  world. 

Among  the  projects  with  which  he  has  been  identified  are  the  Gug- 
genheim Exploration  Company,  the  Utah  Copper  Company,  Nevada 
Consolidated,  Tonopah  Mining  Company,  lead  mines  in  Missouri, 
the  Esperanza  Gold  Mine  and  various  silver  mines  in  Mexico  and,  in 
short,  mining  enterprises  in  many  parts  of  the  world. 

Twice  the  Russian  Government  engaged  him  to  investigate  that 
empire's  mineral  and  industrial  resources  and  its  irrigation  possi- 
bilities. 

Since  he  left  the  Guggenheims,  Mr.  Hammond  has  become  deeply 
interested  in  irrigation.  With  associates,  he  is  carrying  out  around 
the  mouth  of  the  Yaqui  River,  in  Sonora,  Mexico,  the  development  of 
some  1,000  square  miles  of  land,  the  largest  irrigation  project  on  the 
American  continent.  Already  30,000  acres  are  under  cultivation. 
Another  ambitious  irrigation  project  which  is  bringing  thousands  of 
acres  of  orchards  into  existence  is  being  carried  out  by  the  Mt.  Whit- 
ney Power  Company,  California,  the  water  in  this  case  having  to  be 
pumped,  by  means  of  a  system  invented  by  Hammond.  Among  his 
various  Mexican  activities  was  the  formation  of  the  important  Guana- 
juato Power  Company. 

Much  of  Mr.  Hammond's  time  is  now  devoted  to  the  public  interest. 
He  is  particularly  active  in  education,  and  delivers  many  lectures  be- 
fore students  and  other  bodies.  For  some  time  he  acted  as  Professor 
of  Mining  Engineering  at  Yale,  which  university  he  presented  with  a 
mining  and  metallurgical  laboratory.  Several  honorary  degrees  have 
been  conferred  upon  him.  He  is  chairman  of  the  Economics  De- 
partment of  the  National  Civic  Federation,  and  has  laboured  assidu- 
ously to  bring  labour  and  capital  to  a  better  mutual  understanding. 
He  takes  active  participation  in  and  is  a  generous  supporter  of  hos- 
pital work.  He  is  a  notable  advocate  of  international  cooperation  for 
the  insuring  of  peace. 

His  political  work  won  for  him  the  presidency  of  the  National 
League  of  Republican  Clubs,  and  President  Taft  offered  him  the  post 
of  Minister  to  China,  regarded  by  Taft  as  one  of  the  most  important 
of  all  diplomatic  posts.     As  president  of  the  Commission  Extraor- 


I90  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

dinary  of  the  Panama  Exposition,  Mr.  Hammond  visited  most  of 
the  capitals  of  Europe,  interviewed  rulers  and  foreign  ministers,  and 
greatly  helped  to  bring  about  the  success  of  the  Exposition.  Mr. 
Hammond  was  selected  as  representative  of  the  United  States  at  the 
coronation  of  King  George  V. 

Both  in  business  and  in  politics  Air.  Hammond  advocates  publicity. 
One  of  his  contentions  is  that  corporations  protected  by  tariff  should 
be  compelled  to  publish  the  fullest  information  concerning  their 
profits. 

Not  many  Americans  have  so  wide  an  acquaintanceship  among  all 
classes  and  in  all  countries — his  gallery  of  autographed  photographs 
of  men  he  has  personally  known  is  probably  the  largest  in  the  United 
States;  it  runs  the  whole  gamut  from  tiiose  of  the  principal  European 
rulers  to  labour  heads,  one  of  whom,  Samuel  Gompcrs,  appends  to  his 
picture  these  words:  "To  John  Hays  Hammond,  the  most  construc- 
tive, practical,  radically  democratic  millionaire  I  have  ever  met." 

The  time  may  soon  come  when  America  will  have  need  of  the  ser- 
vices of  business-statesmen  of  Hammond's  calibre  and  experience. 
His  knowledge — practical,  technical,  gathered  at  first  hand — of  for- 
eign countries'  resources,  industries,  and  commerce,  fit  him  to  become 
an  important  and  valuable  figure  in  the  momentous  deliberations 
which  must  follow  the  restoration  of  peace.  What  America  will  then 
need  is  not  parochial,  untravclled  politicians,  but  hard-headed,  sophis- 
ticated business  giants,  familiar  with  the  whole  world  and  its  economic 
workings. 

Mr.  Hammond,  who  declares  that  "character  is  the  real  foundation 
of  all  worth-while  success,"  can  truthfully  say,  in  the  words  of  his 
intimate  friend  and  correspondent,  Kipling: 

"Whate'er  may  come,  thank  God  I  have  lived  and  toiled  with 
men." 

Postscriptally,  Mr.  Hammond  attributes  no  small  share  of  his 
success  to  his  intrepid  wife  who  has  never  hesitated  to  share  his 
hardships  and  perils. 

Any  "Men  Who  Are  Making  America"  series  of  articles  written 
ten  years  from  now  promises  to  include  ianother  John  Hays  Ham- 
mond. The  son's  achievements  in  directing  torpedoes  at  sea  by  wire- 
less from  land  has  already  made  him  famous,  and  just  what  the  eflTect 
of  young  Hammond's  inventions  may  have  in  America's  waging  of 
war  cannot  be  foretold.  And  this,  it  is  declared,  is  not  by  any  means 
the  only  important  one  of  his  many  inventions.  Few  famous  men 
are  blessed  with  famous  sons. 


AUGUST  HECKSCHER 


AUGUST  HECKSCHER 

WHEN  a  youth  unable  to  speak  the  English  language  can 
come  to  the  United  States  and  attain  marked  success  in  half- 
a-dozen  different  fields,  surely  few  native  Americans  ought 
to  complain  of  lack  of  opportunities. 

The  career  of  August  Heckscher  illustrates  better  than  any  other  in 
this  series  the  abundance  of  channels  open  in  this  country  for  the  exer- 
cise of  intelligent  and  profitable  industry.  After  thirty  years  of 
rigorous  toil,  first  in  coal  mining  and  then  in  the  zinc  field,  during 
which,  after  an  abnormal  amount  of  opposition,  Mr.  Heckscher  earned 
a  comfortable  fortune,  he  became  interested  in  real  estate  develop- 
ment and  became  a  very  important  factor  in  this  line  of  enterprise. 
Not  satisfied  with  this  achievement,  he  branched  out — very  success- 
fully— into  copper  mining,  steel  manufacturing,  iron  ore  properties, 
and  such  diverse  activities  as  grape-fruit  culture  in  Cuba,  the  manufac- 
ture of  fire  engines  for  most  of  the  country's  cities  and  towns,  a  paper 
company,  large  foundries,  silver  mining,  and  financial  institutions. 

I  asked  Mr.  Heckscher  to  what  he  attributed  his  diversified  success, 
to  what  particular  qualities  he  attached  special  importance,  and 
what,  in  his  opinion,  was  the  most  common  weakness  in  the  make-up 
or  training  of  American-born  youths  who  failed  to  attain  their  ambi- 
tions. 

As  Mr.  Heckscher  has  been  a  citizen  and  a  voter  for  a  longer  period 
than  most  native  Americans — forty-three  years — and  has  rounded 
out  a  half  century's  residence  here,  he  may  be  regarded  as  qualified 
to  discuss  the  subject. 

"Thoroughness  and  perseverance  are  cardinal  requisites,"  he  re- 
plied. "The  trouble  v/ith  most  Americans  who  fail  to  succeed  is  not 
that  they  are  not  brilliant  enough,  but  because  they  have  not  laid 
the  proper  foundation.  They  are  not  thorough  enough.  They  do 
not  master  their  subject  from  the  ground  up.  They  dislike  the  tedious- 
ness,  the  study,  and  the  labour  involved  in  laying  foundations.  They 
do  not  want  to  begin  at  the  bottom — they  seem  to  forget  that  men 
like  Lincoln  and  Washington  did  not  start  at  the  top  and  that  Na- 
poleon began  as  an  obscure  artillery  officer. 

"You  must  learn  to  obey  before  you  are  fit  to  command. 

"Opportunities  are  boundless  in  this  country.  You  mentioned 
that  I  have  made  some  success  in  a  number  of  different  undertakings. 

191 


192  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

If  I  have,  it  is  because  I  set  myself  to  learning  each  one  of  them  pains- 
takingly and  applied  myself  to  it  perseveringly  until  I  knew  it  well. 

"How  did  I  do  it?  Well,  I  am  an  omnivorous  reader  and  my  mem- 
ory is  a  little  like  what  Mr.  Roosevelt  once  said  to  me  when  I  asked 
him  how  he  could  remember  so  many  things.  'I  can't  forget,'  Mr. 
Roosevelt  replied.  I  am  not  impatient;  I  have  been  blessed  with  a 
faculty  for  perseverance  no  matter  what  happens.     I  do  not  give  in." 

Some  of  the  most  powerful  financial  interests  in  the  country  learned 
from  experience  that  August  Heckscher  possesses  bulldog  tenacity. 
They  fought  him  and  he  fought  them  in  the  courts  for  ten  solid  years 
over  title  to  the  great  New  Jersey  Zinc  Mines  which  Mr.  Heckscher 
had  acquired.  The  records  of  this  case,  famous  in  jurisprudence, 
form  a  small  library.  From  court  to  court  the  case  was  carried. 
Even  when  the  Court  of  Appeals  of  New  Jersey  ruled  against  Mr. 
Heckscher  he  did  not  give  up.  Instead  he  redoubled  his  efforts.  He 
even  went  and  ransacked  Europe  for  specimens  of  ore  to  substantiate 
his  contentions. 

He  kept  ten  lawyers  busy.  Finally  he  presented  such  an  array 
of  facts,  exhibits,  and  testimony  that  the  Court  of  Appeals  actually 
reversed  itself,  admitting  that  its  previous  decision  had  been  based 
on  insufficient  data.  During  the  thick  of  this  battle  Mr.  Heckscher 
lost  every  penny  of  his  fortune  through  the  failure  of  the  financial 
institution  which  did  his  business.  One  night  he  went  to  bed  a 
moderately  rich  man,  and  woke  up  next  day  to  find  himself  worth  loss 
than  nothing.  A  friend  had  sufficient  faith  in  him  to  lend  him 
^50,000  to  meet  the  more  pressing  of  his  debts,  and  Mr.  Heckscher 
had  to  start  all  over  again.  That  was  in  1890,  the  year  of  the  Baring 
Brothers  memorable  failure,  which  shook  not  only  London  but  every 
other  great  financial  centre. 

His  tenacity,  his  unwavering  courage,  his  aptitude  for  arduous 
exertion  stood  him  in  good  stead.  Although  he  had  lost  his  money, 
he  did  not  lose  heart.  The  combined  opposition  of  influential  finan- 
cial, railroad,  and  industrial  interests  in  New  York  and  in  New  Jersey 
could  not  defeat  or  discourage  him.  Had  he  been  a  man  of  only 
moderate  self-confidence,  a  man  of  mediocre  ability,  a  man  of  only 
half-hearted  determination,  he  never  would  have  withstood  the  pres- 
sure for  ten  long  years. 

Perhaps  Mr.  Heckscher  inherited  his  fighting  qualities.  His  father 
fought  in  the  battle  of  Leipzig  against  Napoleon  the  First  as  long  ago 
as  1813,  when  a  boy  of  only  sixteen.  In  later  life  his  father  became 
Prime  Minister  of  Germany.  Heckscher,  who  was  born  in  Hamburg 
on  August  26,  1848,  received  a  typically  thorough  education  in  Ger- 
many and  Switzerland. 

When  nineteen,  he  decided  to  strike  out  for  the  United  States. 


AUGUST  HECKSCHER  193 

He  was  given  ^500  in  gold,  which  he  strapped  about  his  waist,  and 
thus  early  manifested  his  faith  in  himself  by  giving  his  mother  an 
assurance  that  under  no  circumstances  would  he  call  upon  her  for  the 
gift  of  another  penny.  Nor  did  he.  He  landed  in  New  York  in 
1867,  and,  through  relatives,  obtained  employment  in  the  anthracite 
coal-mining  regions  of  Pennsylvania.  All  that  he  knew  about  coal 
was  that  it  was  black,  but  the  manager  faUing  ill,  young  Heckscher 
was  placed  in  charge  of  the  whole  property. 

"Running  a  coal  mine  in  the  70's  was  not  the  pleasantest  of  occu- 
pations, for  the  Mollie  Maguire  gangs  were  then  on  the  warpath," 
Mr.  Heckscher  recalled.  "The  miners'  unions  came  and  tried  to 
lay  down  the  law  as  to  what  the  operators  must  do  and  must  not  do. 
The  riots  and  the  bloodshed  in  the  coal  districts  during  that  reign  of 
terror  formed  a  dark  chapter  in  American  industry.  However,  my 
experiences,  I  suppose,  tended  to  develop  self-reliance.  It  was  a 
rough  but  a  salutary  school  for  a  young  man  in  my  position.  I 
managed  to  fight  my  way  through  somehow  or  other." 

A  town  having  been  built  on  top  of  the  mine,  rendering  its  continued 
development  dangerous,  the  whole  property  was  sold  in  188 1.  By 
this  time  the  anthracite  coal  trade  was  being  corralled  by  the  railroad 
companies,  who,  because  of  their  control  of  transportation,  were  in  a 
position  to  make  it  extremely  difficult  for  private  coal  companies  to 
stay  in  business.  The  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Coal  and  Iron  Com- 
pany bought  out  the  mine  in  which  Heckscher  was  interested. 

On  looking  around  for  a  new  opportunity*  Mr.  Heckscher,  along 
with  an  older  cousin,  bought  control  of  a  zinc  plant  at  Bethlehem,  Pa., 
now  forming  part  of  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Works.  Although  the  con- 
cern had  sunk  into  bankruptcy  and  was  purchased  by  the  Heckschers 
at  practically  sheriff's  sale,  they  developed  it  aggressively  and  so 
successfully  that,  within  a  few  years,  it  paid  dividends  regularly  of 
2  per  cent,  monthly.  Mr.  Heckscher  became  convinced  that  the 
zinc  industry  had  vast  possibilities  and  he  resolved  to  extend  his 
operations. 

Accordingly,  he  took  the  lead  in  forming  the  New  Jersey  Zinc  Com- 
pany. Certain  intrenched  capitalistic  interests  did  not  relish  the 
advent  of  this  outsider,  who  was  not  of  their  number,  and  an  attack 
upon  the  Heckscher  interests  was  instituted.  As  already  told,  Heck- 
scher lost  all  his  money  in  1890  and  also  at  one  stage  had  his  title  to 
the  zinc  property  declared  invalid,  yet  fought  on  until  he  attained 
ultimate  victory  at  the  end  of  ten  trying  years.  He  continued  as 
manager  of  the  zinc  company  until  1905,  when  he  resigned. 

Although  he  had  now  sufficient  wealth  to  satisfy  all  his  needs  for 
the  remainder  of  his  life,  he  found  he  could  not  remain  simply  an 
inactive  investor.     He  had  been  appointed  by  the  courts  to  the  re- 


194  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

ceivership  of  several  railroads,  forming  what  is  now  the  Kansas  City 
Southern.  He  had  also  been  receiver  of  a  large  steel  plant.  At  each 
step  he  made  it  his  business  to  master  the  industry  or  business  which 
he  took  up,  so  that,  in  course  of  time,  he  acquired  exhaustive  knowl- 
edge of  various  lines  of  activity. 

Then  he  was  tempted  to  enter  a  field  with  which  he  had  not  first 
made  himself  thoroughly  familiar.  He  purchased  the  Whitney 
property  at  57th  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  as  an  invest- 
ment, but  soon  discovered  that  it  could  not  be  made  to  pay.  Having 
once  taken  up  real  estate,  however,  Heckscher,  unaccustomed  to  doing 
things  by  halves,  began  to  analyze  conditions  throughout  the  city 
with  a  view  to  more  extensive  operations.  The  Whitney  property 
was  then  too  far  up-town  to  be  turned  to  profitable  account;  in  other 
words,  Mr.  Heckscher  found  he  had  bought  prematurely — he  was 
too  early.  He  therefore  decided  to  build  merely  a  taxpaying  structure 
on  that  site  and  to  devote  his  attention  to  the  42nd  Street  district  as 
being  more  immediately  in  the  line  of  enhancement  in  value. 

Having  now  a  reasonably  good  knowledge  of  real  estate,  his  activi- 
ties became  distinctly  profitable.  Among  the  buildings  Mr.  Heck- 
scher now  owns  or  controls  are  the  tvventy-five-story  office  building 
at  50  East  42nd  Street,  the  Manhattan  Hotel,  the  Tiffany  Studios 
property,  the  former  Havemeyer  residence  at  38th  Street  and  Madison 
Avenue,  the  whole  block  fronting  on  Fifth  Avenue,  at  104th  Street, 
another  large  property  at  45th  Street  and  Vanderbilt  Avenue,  and  a 
business  building  at  622  Fifth  Avenue,  formerly  used  by  Mr.  Heck- 
scher as  his  residence. 

And  the  probabilities  are  that  this  list  will  be  steadily  lengthened, 
for  he  is  as  active  to-day  as  he  was  thirty  years  ago. 

The  variety  and  extent  of  his  activities  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  partial  list  of  his  executive  positions  and  directorships: 

Owner  of  the  Vermont  Copper  Company,  director  of  the  New 
Jersey  Zinc  Company,  vice-president  and  director  of  the  Eastern 
Steel  Company,  member  of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Central 
Foundry  Company,  chairman  of  the  Union  Bag  &  Paper  Company, 
director  of  the  Central  Iron  &  Coal  Company,  president  and  director 
of  the  Benson  Mines  Company  (iron  ore),  director  of  the  Canada 
Copper  Company,  director  of  the  Nipissing  Mines,  chairman  of  the 
American-La  France  Fire  Engine  Company,  director  of  the  Ray 
Hercules  Copper  Company,  member  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  Empire  Trust  Company,  director  of  the  Lawyers'  Title  &  Trust 
Company,  and  director  of  the  Cuba  Grape  Fruit  Company. 

Yet,  with  all  his  multifarious  business  affairs,  Mr.  Heckscher  has 
taken  time  to  live.  To  his  friends  he  is  "Commodore,"  having  been 
commodore  of  the  Seawanhaka-Corinthian  Yacht  Club — yachting  is 


AUGUST  HECKSCHER  195 

his  favourite  recreation.  His  intense  love  of  good  pictures  is  revealed 
by  the  great  number  of  meritorious  paintings  which  adorn  his  office 
walls  and  also  his  home  at  Huntington,  L.  I.  He  has  also  taken  time 
to  discharge  a  full  share  of  civic  duties.  A  believer  in  good  roads, 
he  served  as  commissioner  of  highways  at  Huntington  for  two  years, 
having  been  elected  by  a  decisive  majority,  notwithstanding  opposi- 
tion by  some  of  the  working  people  on  the  score  that  he  was  a  capitalist 
and  had  no  business  to  take  the  ^3  a  day  salary  away  from  some  work- 
man in  need  of  it.  This  little  objection  Mr.  Heckscher  handsomely 
overcame,  not  only  by  adding  the  ^3  to  the  salary  of  his  chief  assistant, 
but  by  engaging  at  his  own  cost  a  capable  engineer  to  carry  out  many 
improvements. 

Huntington  has  since  received  a  gift  of  a  beautiful  park  upon  which 
Mr.  Heckscher  spent  much  labour,  to  say  nothing  of  money,  beautify- 
ing and  equipping  it  for  the  use  of  the  townspeople  and  particularly 
the  children,  who  occupy  a  specially  warm  spot  in  his  heart.  The 
park  is  amply  endowed  to  meet  all  upkeep  charges,  so  that  it  may  not 
at  any  time  impose  the  slightest  burden  upon  the  taxpayers. 

"Oh,  it  is  hardly  worth  mentioning,  but,  do  you  know,  I  had  no 
end  of  real  pleasure  out  of  planning  and  laying  out  that  little  park, 
with  its  rustic  home  for  the  caretaker,  its  fountains,  and  other  attrac- 
tions," replied  Mr.  Heckscher,  almost  apologetically  when  I  brought 
up  this  subject.     "It  is  a  nice  place  for  the  kids  and  the  birds." 

Mr.  Heckscher  married  Miss  Atkins  in  Pottsville,  Pa.  They  have 
one  married  daughter  who  lives  in  England,  while  the  nationally 
known  polo  player,  G.  Maurice  Heckscher,  now  of  the  Meadowbrook 
Polo  Team,  which  defeated  the  best  team  England  could  produce, 
is  a  son  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Heckscher. 

In  view  of  Mr.  Heckscher's  own  record,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he 
should  regard  America  as  a  land  of  unequalled  opportunities  for  those 
who  will  undergo  the  necessary  preparation  to  fit  themselves  to  seize 
them.  He  firmly  believes  that  responsibilities  seek  only  shoulders 
able  to  bear  them,  and  that  the  idle  and  the  ignorant  are  apt  to  reap 
just  what  they  sow.  Knowledge  is  power  and  hard  work  is  the  only 
dynamo  that  can  generate  success. 

His  career  proves  that  to  the  man  with  seeing  eyes,  a  well-trained 
mind  and  willing  hands,  Opportunity  comes  many  times  in  a  lifetime, 
not  once,  as  sang  the  poet  who  put  these  words  into  the  mouth  of 
"Opportunity": 

Master  of  human  destinies  am  I! 
Fame,  love,  and  fortune  on  my  footsteps  wait. 
Cities  and  fields  I  walk;  I  penetrate 
Deserts  and  seas  remote,  and  passing  by 
Hovel  and  mart  and  palace,  soon  or  late 


196  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

I  knock  unbidden  once  at  every  gate! 

If  sleeping,  wake;  if  feasting,  rise  before 

I  turn  away.     It  is  the  hour  of  fate, 

And  they  who  follow  me  reach  every  state 

Mortals  desire,  and  conquer  every  foe 

Save  death;  but  those  who  doubt  or  hesitate 

Condemned  to  failure,  penury,  and  woe, 

Seek  me  in  vain  and  uselessly  implore, 

I  answer  not,  and  I  return  no  more! 

Opportunity  may  not  constantly  come  knocking  at  the  door;  It 
may  be  necessary  to  set  forth  and  diligently  search  for  her.  But  she 
is  to  be  found  by  those  who  look  forward  and  go  forward  equipped 
to  see  her  and  seize  her. 


A. BARTON  HEPBURN 


A.  BARTON  HEPBURN 

I  HAVE  always  been  lucky." 
That  was  the  frank  admission  made  by  A.  Barton  Hepburn, 
usually  described  simply  as  a  banker.  His  career,  however, 
has  been  one  of  many-sided  success.  He  has  made  his  mark  as  an 
educator,  as  a  lawyer,  as  a  legislator,  as  a  government  official,  as  an 
author,  and  as  a  big-game  hunter — of  which  last  he  is  perhaps  most 
proud. 

The  Chase  National  Bank  eighteen  years  ago,  when  Mr.  Hepburn 
took  hold  as  president,  had  deposits  of  $27,000,000  and  capital,  sur- 
plus, and  undivided  profits  of  only  $2,500,000.  Now  it  has  over 
$300,000,000  deposits  and  $22,000,000  of  capital,  surplus,  and  un- 
divided profits.  Also,  there  is  an  allied  Chase  Securities  Corporation, 
young  but  vigorous. 

The  experience  I  am  about  to  tell  sounds  like  a  page  from  the  pen 
of  an  over-imaginative  novelist. 

Mr.  Hepburn  had  just  taken  his  seat  as  an  Assemblyman  at  Albany, 
thirty-seven  years  ago,  as  a  Republican  under  a  Democratic  house 
and  senate,  a  position  apparently  offering  little  scope  for  recognition. 
He  was  writing  letters  in  the  house  thanking  some  of  his  friends  for 
the  support  they  had  given  him,  when  he  became  conscious  that 
someone  had  sat  down  beside  him.  He  turned  to  find  a  giant  of  a 
man  occupying  the  adjoining  chair. 

"I  believe  I  have  the  honour  of  addressing  Mr.  Hepburn?"  said  the 
giant  with  a  Scottish  accent. 

"Yes,  I  am  Mr.  Hepburn,  but  I  am  quite  sure  I  never  met  you 
before,  for  I  surely  would  remember  you,"  was  the  reply. 

"Mr.  Hepburn,  I  have  called  upon  you  for  your  name's  sake.  I 
hope  in  future  to  call  for  your  own  sake.  I  am  John  F.  Smythe, 
Chairman  of  the  State  Republican  Committee  and  Postmaster  of 
Albany,  and  this  is  why  I  came  to  meet  you. 

"A  great  many  years  ago  I  was  a  student  in  college  in  Scotland  and 
in  hazing  the  freshmen  we  went  to  great  lengths,  committing  what 
undoubtedly  were  criminal  acts.  We  were  arrested,  indicted,  and 
— despite  the  intercession  of  many  family  friends — arraigned  for 
trial,  and  it  appeared  certain  that  we  should  all  be  disgraced  for  life. 

"There  was  great  excitement  the  day  of  the  trial.  The  court  was 
crowded  with  parents,  relatives,  friends  of  the  students,  and  local 

197 


198  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

people.  When  the  case  was  called  a  patriarchal-looking  old  man  of 
the  neighbourhood,  Sir  Andrew  Hepburn,  begged  leave  to  address  the 
court.  'You  are  about  to  commit  a  very  serious  and  a  very  grave 
wrong,'  he  began.  'You  have  here  a  number  of  young  men  of  ex- 
cellent families  indicted  for  alleged  crimes,  whom  you  propose  to 
punish  and  disgrace  for  life.  What  they  did  was  wrong,  but  what  they 
did  the  class  before  them  did,  and  the  class  before  them,  and  the 
class  before  them,  even  going  back  to  the  class  in  which  your  Honour 
and  I  and  the  prosecuting  attorney  were  members.  We  all  did  the 
same  thing,  and  if  we  had  been  indicted  we  would  have  been  placed 
behind  prison  bars.' 

"The  aged  man's  appeal  made  such  an  impression  that  the  whole 
proceedings  were  dropped. 

"I  came  to  America.  I  made  up  my  mind  that,  while  there  was 
nothing  I  could  do  for  Sir  Andrew  Hepburn,  if  I  ever  had  opportunity 
to  do  anything  for  anyone  having  the  name  of  Hepburn,  I  would  not 
neglect  to  do  it.  Here  I  am.  I  know  all  about  you.  If  there  is 
anything  I  can  do,  I  shall  feel  privileged  in  being  allowed  to  do  it. 
If  there  is  ever  anything  you  want,  call  on  me." 

Smythe  was  then  perhaps  the  greatest  political  power  in  Albany 
and  he  saw  to  it  that  his  young  friend  Hepburn  was  placed  on  im- 
portant committees,  thus  giving  him  a  standing  in  the  legislature  which 
ordinarily  would  have  taken  years  to  attain.  Governor  Tilden 
sent  for  him,  complimented  him  on  his  independence  of  mind,  and 
asked  his  cooperation  in  carrying  through  reform  measures  which 
the  Governor  was  championing.  As  there  was  a  Democratic  majority 
of  only  five  in  the  Assembly,  every  vote  counted.  Hepburn  was  an 
ardent  reformer  and  he  pledged  his  enthusiastic  support. 

Alas,  the  very  next  bill  that  the  Administration  submitted  called 
for  a  commission  of  four  members  whose  reform  proceedings  were  to 
be  conducted  in  secret.  The  measure  was  railroaded  through  to  its 
third  reading  in  five  minutes. 

Up  jumped  Hepburn  and  made  a  rousing  protest  against  the  pro- 
posed star-chamber  methods  of  the  commission.  He  thundered 
against  secret,  hole-and-corner  legislative  doings,  although  not  long 
before  he  had  promised  the  Governor  whole-hearted  support. 

Next  morning  the  New  York  Tribune  and  the  New  York  Herald 
printed  the  name  of  Mr.  Hepburn  and  five  others  wnth  black,  mourn- 
ing borders  around  them,  charged  them  with  being  lackeys  of  the 
"canal  ring,"  and  gave  them  a  terrible  editorial  trouncing. 

Hepburn  got  mad.  He  raised  the  question  of  privilege,  had  the 
articles  read,  and  then  delivered  a  masterpiece,  quoting,  from  Black- 
stone  down,  against  star-chamber  proceedings.  Speaker  Jerry  Mc- 
Guire  left  the  chair,  came  along  the  centre  aisle,  and  sat  down  beside 


A.  BARTON  HEPBURN  199 

Hepburn.  "I  like  you,"  he  cried,  shaking  Hepburn's  hand.  "You 
are  right,  and  we  can  work  together."  Opposition  to  the  secret  pro- 
ceedings was  spreading  over  the  State. 

Tilden  sent  for  him  again.  Hepburn  expected  a  lambasting.  In- 
stead, the  Governor  greeted  him  with:  "I  have  read  what  you  said 
in  regard  to  this  bill.  You  were  right.  We  want  to  turn  on  the  light. 
The  bill  will  be  amended  to  meet  your  views  and  I  trust  it  will  get 
your  support." 

The  Governor  gave  a  dinner  to  William  Cullen  Bryant,  and  Re- 
publican Assemblyman  Hepburn  was  honoured  with  an  invitation. 
With  one  bound  he  had  sprung  into  prominence.  In  later  years 
Mr.  Hepburn  became  chairman  of  a  legislative  investigation  the  New 
York  Chamber  of  Commerce  inspired  to  expose  discrimination  by  the 
railroads  against  the  City  of  New  York  by  giving  special  rates  to 
Philadelphia  and  Boston  and  other  seaboard  cities  and  also  to  in- 
dividuals. As  a  result  of  this  investigation  Mr.  Hepburn  drew  up  a 
bill  providing  for  a  State  Railroad  Commission  and  was  able  to  have 
it  passed  in  the  face  of  the  opposition  of  the  all-powerful  railroad  in- 
terests. It  is  this  Commission  law  which  exists  to-day.  Four  other 
important  measures  he  brought  forward  and  carried  through. 
"How  did  you  do  it?"  I  asked  Mr.  Hepburn. 
"I  found  most  of  the  members  did  not  know  how  to  work  or  to 
study  up  a  subject  and  that  the  most  formidable  weapon  to  use  was  a 
volley  of  facts,"  he  replied.  "Facts  which  could  not  be  disputed 
when  fired  at  them  always  awed  them.  Having  won  a  reputation  for 
being  right,  it  was  easy  enough  to  become  a  factor  in  any  debate.  Of 
course,  I  had  to  work  very  hard." 

Five  years'  effective  work  in  the  Assembly  won  him  the  appoint- 
ment of  superintendent  of  the  State  Banking  Department. 

But  let  us  get  back  to  the  beginning  of  our  story.  The  founder 
of  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer^  a  successful  railroad  contractor  in 
Ohio,  and  a  literary-oratorical  light — all  three  of  good  education — were 
among  the  uncles  of  Alonzo  Barton  Hepburn,  but  his  father,  a  farmer 
in  Colton,  N.  Y.,  objected  to  giving  him  a  college  education  on  the 
ground  that  It  would  unfit  him  for  the  work  of  a  farmer.  Three  older 
brothers  had  gone  off  as  privates  In  the  Civil  War — each  came  out 
with  a  commission — but  Barton  was  too  young,  having  been  born  on 
July  24,  1846.  No  boy  had  ever  gone  from  Colton  to  college  and  one 
citizen  who  was  not  at  all  proud  of  this  tradition  offered  to  lend 
Barton  $1,000  if  he  would  take  insurance  and  join  the  Masons. 
Barton  did.  To  eke  out  his  slender  resources  he  taught  district  school 
between  terms  and  also  became  clerk  in  a  Colton  store. 

This  job  cut  his  wisdom  teeth.  The  store  bought  everything  the 
community  produced  and  sold  everything  it  consumed.    The  town 


200  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

had  a  tannery  which  used  10,000  cars  of  hemlock  bark  a  year,  two 
saw  mills,  two  grist  mills,  a  tub  factory,  etc.  The  yeomanry  were 
slick — and  their  wives  slicker.  Because  he  was  well  educated,  young 
Hepburn  was  given  the  job  of  measuring  and  computing  the  value  of 
loads  of  bark,  wood,  hay,  etc.  Often  his  measurements  and  his 
weights,  taken  at  the  store,  did  not  tally  with  those  of  the  mills  when 
the  stuff  was  unloaded — the  loads,  itwas  discovered,  had  been  weighted 
with  stones,  iron,  etc.  Colton,  lying  at  the  foothills  of  the  Adiron- 
dacks  on  the  banks  of  the  Raquette  River,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
lumber  industry,  was  then  the  most  flourishing  place  in  St.  Lawrence 
County,  with  1,800  permanent  inhabitants  and  many  transients. 
The  young  clerk  learned  to  handle  and  appraise  the  value  of  all  sorts 
of  materials  raised  by  the  farmers  as  well  as  the  supplies  needed  for  the 
lumber  camps  up  the  mountains. 

On  graduating  with  an  A.  B.  degree  from  Middlebury  College,  the 
town  where  his  father  was  born,  he  became  instructor  of  mathematics 
at  St.  Lawrence  Academy,  and,  later  principal  of  Ogdensburg  Educa- 
tional Institute  at  a  salary  of  $1,200  a  year.  This  enabled  him  to  pay 
off  all  his  debts.  He  next  studied  law,  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and 
returned  to  Colton  to  rest. 

So  many  people  swarmed  to  him  for  legal  advice  that  he  decided  to 
stay  there  and  practise.  He  could  pick  whichever  side  he  wanted 
in  almost  every  suit.  Business  boomed.  His  clients  included  the 
King  estate  of  Boston  and  others  owning  extensive  tracts  of  land. 
1  hen  the  State  of  New  York  engaged  him  to  look  after  overdue  taxes, 
etc.  Plenty  of  timber  land  could  be  picked  up  by  merely  paying  back 
taxes. 

Hepburn  saw  his  opportunity.  He  bought  30,000  acres  at  50 
cents  an  acre,  sold  some  timber  off  it,  joined  several  others  in  building 
a  saw-mill  which  cut  25,000,000  feet  per  year,  put  money  into  wing 
dams,  and  made  the  river  navigable  for  logs.  He  was,  however, 
"land  poor." 

Governor  Cleveland  offered  to  re-appoint  him  State  Bank  super- 
intendent, but  as  his  lumber  interests  were  harassing  him,  he  quit. 
In  addition  to  his  domestic  expenses,  he  had  to  pay  interest  and  taxes 
on  his  land,  build  a  new  mill,  and  meet  other  obligations  far  beyond 
the  salary  paid  by  the  Banking  Department.  For  several  years  he 
worked  hard  to  clear  his  feet — and  then  sold  out  at  a  profit  of  $200,000. 
This  when  forty. 

His  liking  for  law  had  not  been  eradicated  by  his  political  ex- 
periences, but  the  banking  field  easily  overshadowed  the  legal  arena. 
His  first  banking  position  in  New  York  was  as  United  States  bank  ex- 
aminer. His  work  here  attracted  notice,  and  he  was  called  to  Wash- 
ington as  Comptroller  of  the  Currency.     This  proved  the  stepping 


A.  BARTON  HEPBURN  201 

stone  to  that  aim  of  nearly  all  bankers,  the  presidency  of  a  New  York 
bank,  the  Third  National.  When  it  was  taken  over  by  the  National 
City  Bank,  Mr.  Hepburn  went  along,  as  a  vice-president. 

"Come  over  and  help  us  or  we  perish,"  was  the  gist  of  a  message  he 
received  from  the  directors  of  the  Chase  National  Bank  two  years  later. 

Having  been  Federal  bank  examiner,  he  knew  the  whole  situation. 
The  field  was  broad,  with  inviting  opportunity.  So  he  accepted,  with 
results  that  constitute  a  remarkable  chapter  of  successful  American 
banking. 

"How  have  I  succeeded?"  Mr.  Hepburn  repeated.  "Simply  by 
hard,  systematic  work  directed  by  every  ounce  of  intelligence  in  me. 
To  my  mind  it  is  true  that  'genius  is  95  per  cent,  perspiration  and 
only  5  per  cent,  inspiration.'" 

Then  he  gave  this  pointer  for  winning  success: 

"Whenever  I  have  studied  any  subject  or  dug  out  any  information 
I  have  always  carefully  compiled  the  data  in  a  form  that  would  be 
instantly  available.  I  have  kept  a  memorandum  of  all  facts  I  gath- 
ered. 

"Thus,  my  book  on  'The  Artificial  Waterways  of  the  World'  con- 
tains many  figures  I  secured  when  in  the  legislature  and  when  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Transportation  in  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. My  'History  of  Currency'  embodies  much  information  I 
gathered  as  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Sound  Money  League  which 
opposed  free  silver  all  through  the  Bryan  campaign,  in  the  work  of 
which  I  was  constantly  engaged. 

"By  keeping  a  proper  record  of  facts  and  figures  you  can  turn  to 
them  and  use  them  to  help  you  whenever  occasion  arises.'* 

Mr.  Hepburn  has  lived.  He  has  achieved  as  much  out  of  business 
as  in  business  and  has  had  many  honours  showered  upon  him.  He 
rivals  his  friend  Andrew  Carnegie  in  the  number  of  honorary  degrees 
conferred  upon  him  by  colleges — LL.D's.  from  Middlebury,  Colum- 
bia, Williams,  and  Vermont;  D.C.L.  from  St.  Lawrence  University, 
etc.  Commerce  elected  him  to  its  highest  office,  president  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce.  Finance,  not  to  be  outdone,  made  him 
Chairman  of  the  Currency  Commission  of  the  American  Bankers' 
Association  on  its  formation  a  decade  ago  and  has  kept  him  in  that 
place  ever  since,  while  he  has  been  president  of  the  New  York  Clearing 
House  and  the  National  Currency  Association  as  well  as  chairman  of 
two  State  Commissions  to  Revise  the  Banking  Laws.  He  has  held  the 
presidency  of  the  St.  Andrews  Society,  the  New  England  Society, 
the  Bankers'  Club,  and  other  social  organizations.  France  made 
him  an  Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honour. 

His  philanthropies  have  been  notable.  He  donated  Hepburn  Hall 
to  his  Alma  Mater,  Middlebury  College,  in  191 5.     It  consists  of  two 


202  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

elaborate  buildings,  a  five-story  dormitory  to  accommodate  lOO 
students,  and  a  tlirce-story  commons  building.  Ogdensburg  in  1916 
announced  a  $130,000  gift  from  him  for  hospital  purposes  there,  and 
the  A.  Barton  Hepburn  Hospital  was  erected  for  the  use  of  St.  Law- 
rence County,  the  scene  of  his  early  struggles  and  triumphs.  He  is 
also  active  in  the  work  of  the  Rockefeller  Foundation,  of  which  he  is  a 
trustee. 

His  books  have  commanded  the  attention  of  the  thoughtful.  They 
include  "History  of  Coinage  and  Currency,"  "A  History  of  Currency 
in  the  United  States,"  "Artificial  Waterways  and  Commercial  De- 
velopment," "Artificial  W'aterways  of  the  World,"  and  "Story  of  an 
Outing."  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Academy  of  Political 
Science. 

His  services  as  a  director  are  in  wide  demand.  He  sits  on  a  score 
of  financial,  industrial,  and  mercantile  boards  dealing  with  such  diverse 
things  as  five-and-ten-cent  articles  (Woolworth),  insurance  (N.  Y. 
Life),  automobiles  (Studebaker),  manure  (American  Agricultural 
Chemical)  and  gasoline  (Texas  Co.). 

Mr.  Hepburn  is  as  much  at  home  among  big  game  as  among  big 
business.  By  way  of  celebrating  his  seventieth  birthday,  Mr.  Hep- 
burn travelled  5,000  miles  to  hunt  for  the  famous  brown  bears  which 
are  to  be  found — sometimes — on  Kadiak  Island,  Alaska.  After  an 
exciting  hunt  he  bagged  two — no  one  is  allowed  to  kill  more  than 
three.  A  few  years  ago  he  also  journeyed  several  thousand  miles  to 
search  for  big  game  in  British  East  Africa  and  had  the  sensation  of 
meeting  and  the  satisfaction  of  killing  the  best  game  of  that  country, 
mcluding  two  lions  in  the  open. 

He  can  wield  a  golf  stick  as  expertly  as  he  handles  his  gun.  Fishing 
is  another  of  his  hobbies.     So  is  swimming. 

Independence  is  one  of  Mr.  Hepburn's  outstanding  traits.  Whether 
in  poHtics  or  in  finance  he  will  not  bend  the  knee  to  anybody  acting 
questionably.  He  has  always  insisted  on  doing  his  own  thinking  and 
travelling  his  own  road.  His  great  learning,  first  as  a  student  and 
teacher,  and  then  as  a  lawyer,  rendered  him  fit  to  form  his  own  con- 
clusions and  he  has  all  along  reserved  the  right  to  do  so. 

Intense  energy  is  another  of  his  characteristics.  He  burns  much 
midnight  oil  in  searching  for  knowledge — sometimes  for  knowledge's 
sake,  more  often  to  fit  him  to  grapple  more  effectively  with  practical 
problems  of  social,  political,  financial,  and  industrial  life. 

He  believes  in  orderliness,  and  practises  it.  He  hates  chaos  and 
avoids  it — his  desk  is  always  just  so. 

Mr.  Hepburn  has  one  son  living,  Charles  Fisher,  whose  mother 
died  in  1 88 1.  In  1887  Mr.  Hepburn  married  Emily  L.  Eaton,  of 
Montpelier,  Vt.,  and  they  have  two  daughters,  Beulah  Eaton,  wife  of 


A.  BARTON  HEPBURN  203 

Lieut.  Robert  R.  M.  Emmet,  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  and  Cordelia  Susan. 
Because  of  his  fondness  for  the  country,  Mr.  Hepburn  maintains  a 
residence  at  Ridgefield,  Conn.,  in  addition  to  his  city  home  in  57th 
Street,  New  York  City. 

Although  past  the  seventieth  mile-post.  Barton  Hepburn  is  as 
alert  in  body  and  mind  as  he  was  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  He  at- 
tributes his  wonderful  condition  to  love  of  Nature.  "The  outdoor 
life,"  he  recently  wrote,  "sweetens  all  existence;  it  cultivates  the  pure 
and  wholesome  in  one's  life  and  aspirations;  it  lures  from  the  man- 
made  attractions  that  pander  to  sensation,  to  God-made  attractions 
that  sustain  the  source  of  being;  in  advancing  years  it  enables  one  to 
exclaim: 

"'Though  I  look  old,  yet  I  am  strong  and  lusty, 
For  in  my  youth  I  never  did  apply 
Hot  and  rebellious  liquors  in  my  blood. 
Nor  did  not  with  un bashful  forehead  woo 
The  means  of  weakness  and  debility.'" 


SAMUEL  INSULL 

ONE  bleak  November  evening  a  poor  but  ambitious  young 
London  clerk,  who  in  his  spare  moments  had  contrived  to 
learn  shorthand,  stood  on  the  dingy  underground  railway 
platform  at  King's  Cross  waiting  for  a  train  to  take  him  to  the  home  of 
Thomas  Gibson  Bowles,  proprietor  and  editor  of  Fanity  Fairy  where 
the  youth  eked  out  his  two-dollars-a-week  salary  by  earning  a  few 
shillings  as  stenographer  after  his  regular  day's  work  was  done. 

To  while  away  the  time  during  the  drab  ride  in  London's  "Sewer," 
the  lad  resolved  to  buy  something  to  read,  and  his  choice  fell  upon  an 
American  magazine,  the  old  Scribners,  now  the  Century  Magazine. 
It  chanced  to  contain  an  article  on  the  electrical  experiences  and 
achievements  of  one  Thomas  A.  Edison,  then  hardly  known  in 
Europe.  The  writer  was  Francis  R.  Upton,  one  of  Mr.  Edison's  aides, 
and  the  story  he  told  was  fascinating. 

Not  very  long  after  this  the  real  estate  agent  and  auctioneer  for 
whom  the  clerk  worked  decided  that  he  could  cut  expenses  by  engag- 
ing an  "articled"  clerk — an  apprentice  who  would  serve  for  nothing. 
So  the  paid  clerk  answered  a  "Situations  Vacant"  advertisement  in 
the  London  Times. 

The  advertiser  turned  out  to  be  Colonel  George  E.  Gouraud,  the 
English  representative  of  Edison  and  the  resident  director  in  London 
of  the  Mercantile  Trust  Company  of  New  York,  then  owned  by  the 
Equitable  Life.  Colonel  Gouraud  was  favourably  impressed  by  the 
youth's  enterprise  and  experience,  for  in  addition  to  his  daily  task 
and  his  shorthand  writing  for  the  famous  Bowles,  he  had  found  time 
to  do  secretarial  work  for  Sir  George  Campbell,  a  noted  member  of 
Parliament. 

He  was  engaged  as  Colonel  Gouraud's  secretary — and  then  re- 
solved to  strive  to  become  secretary  to  Edison  himself,  the  wonder- 
working hero  of  the  magazine  story. 

In  his  new  position  with  Colonel  Gouraud,  he  not  only  did  his  full 
day's  work  but,  as  a  possible  stepping-stone  toward  his  goal,  made 
himself  useful  at  night  to  Edison's  technical  representative  in  England, 
E.  H.  Johnson,  who  was  then  assisting  in  the  formation  of  the  Edison 
Telephone  Company  in  London.  To  Mr.  Johnson  he  confided  his 
ambition. 

The  abilities,  the  enthusiasm,  and  the  inordinate  energy  of  the 

204 


SAMUEL  INSULL  205 

young  secretary  began  to  be  noted  by  Americans  visiting  the  Edison 
headquarters,  and  before  long  he  received  an  attractive  offer  from  the 
most  prominent  international  banking  house  in  America  to  come  to 
New  York.  Acceptance  would  have  diverted  him  from  his  purpose; 
so  he  refused  the  proffered  position. 

One  day  the  cable  brought  the  message  he  had  waited  for  and 
worked  for.      Thomas  A.  Edison  wanted  him  as  his  private  secretary. 

The  youth  was  Samuel  Insull,  the  early  secretary,  associate,  con- 
fidant, financial  manager  and  alter  ego  of  Edison  and  now  the  creator 
and  head  of  the  largest  power  plant  in  the  world  producing  electricity 
by  steam,  a  plant  supplying  more  customers  and  more  power  than 
any  in  New  York,  London,  Berlin,  or  Paris — the  Commonwealth 
Edison  Company  of  Chicago.  Mr.  Insull  has  also  won  his  way  to 
the  head  of  Chicago's  elevated  railways  and  the  city's  entire  gas 
business,  while,  in  addition,  he  has  built  up  and  dominates  enterprises 
which  supply  350  different  communities  with  gas  and  electric  light, 
power  for  industries,  and  current  for  numerous  urban  and  interurban 
railways. 

But  we  are  getting  ahead  of  our  story.  We  left  Mr.  Insull,  then 
twenty-one,  jubilant  over  the  receipt  of  the  Edison  summons.  He 
had  equipped  himself  for  the  job.  He  had  already  imbibed  much 
knowledge  concerning  electricity  and  had  been  given  the  honour  of 
acting  for  the  first  half  hour  as  the  telephone  operator  in  the  first 
experimental  telephone  exchange  erected  in  Europe.  He  had  done 
his  work  well — better  than  one  of  his  colleagues  did  on  an  eventful 
occasion. 

A  celebration  of  one  of  the  royal  societies  was  being  held  at  the 
Burlington  House,  Piccadilly,  and  a  telephone  had  been  installed  for 
the  entertainment  and  edification  of  the  guests — and  also  with  a  view 
to  bringing  it  to  public  notice.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gladstone  came  along 
and  showed  much  curiosity.  Mrs.  Gladstone  asked  Mr.  Insull,  who 
was  in  charge  of  that  end  of  the  wire,  to  let  her  use  the  instrument. 
The  wife  of  the  famous  statesman  asked  the  Edison  employee  at  the 
other  end  whether  he  knew  if  a  man  or  a  woman  was  speaking.  In 
loud  tones  came  back  the  reply:     "A  man!" 

Full  of  rosy  hopes,  Mr.  Edison's  new  private  secretary  set  foot  on 
American  soil  on  February  28,  1881. 

Although  it  was  between  five  and  six  in  the  evening,  he  was  taken, 
by  Mr.  Johnson,  direct  to  Mr.  Edison's  office  at  65  Fifth  Avenue. 

At  first  glance  both  employer  and  secretary  felt  disappointed.  Edi- 
son had  not  expected  so  boyish-looking  a  person;  the  hero's  appear- 
ance did  not  tally  with  the  worshipper's  imagination. 

"With  my  strict  ideas  as  to  the  class  of  clothes  to  be  worn  by  a 
prominent  man,"  Mr.  Insull  declares,  "there  was  nothing  in  Edison's 


2o6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

dress  to  impress  me.  He  wore  a  rather  seedy  black  diagonal  Prince 
Albert  coat  and  waist-coat,  with  trousers  of  a  dark  material,  and  a 
white  silk  handkerchief  around  his  neck,  tied  in  a  careless  knot  falling 
over  the  stiff  bosom  of  a  white  shirt  somewhat  the  worse  for  wear. 
He  had  a  large  'wideawake'  hat  of  the  sombrero  pattern,  then  gener- 
ally used  in  this  country.  His  hair  was  worn  quite  long,  and  hung 
carelessly  over  his  fine  forehead.  What  struck  me  above  everything 
else  were  the  wonderful  intelligence  and  magnetism  of  his  expression, 
and  the  extreme  brightness  of  his  eyes.  He  was  far  more  modest 
than  in  my  youthful  picture  of  him.  I  had  expected  to  find  a  man 
of  distinction.  His  appearance,  as  a  whole,  was  not  what  you  would 
call  'slovenly';  it  is  best  expressed  by  the  word  'careless.'" 

The  new  secretary  very  quickly  learned  of  Edison's  contempt  for 
the  clock.  He  was  asked  to  report  for  duty  after  dinner — and  his 
first  day's  work  finished  between  four  and  five  o'clock  in  the  morning! 

Mr.  Insull  immediately  fell  a  victim  to  the  wizard's  magnetic  spell. 
He  forgot  that  Edison  lacked  a  collar,  that  his  shirt  was  frayed,  that 
his  hair  was  frowzy,  and  that  his  trousers  were  not  creased  to  a  razor- 
edge.  One  night's  association  was  sufficient  to  create  unbounded 
admiration  for  what  was  in  his  hero's  head. 

"Next  evening,"  Mr.  Insull  recalls,  "I  was  taken  out  to  Menlo 
Park  by  Mr.  Edison  and  I  well  remember  how  surprised  I  was  to  see 
the  fields  around  his  laboratory,  the  houses  of  himself  and  his  assis- 
tants all  illuminated  by  this  wonderful  new  light,  using  a  carbon- 
filament  lamp — a  decided  improvement  on  the  paper-filament  one 
which  I  had  seen  in  London.  I  recall  that  I  was  quite  impatient  on 
that  occasion  to  run  down  to  the  railroad  station  from  the  laboratory, 
about  half  a  mile  away,  to  send  a  cable  to  my  friends  in  London,  telling 
them  that  I  had  seen  Edison's  system  in  operation.  About  ten  or 
twelve  days  later  I  received  an  acknowledgment  from  the  man  to 
whom  I  cabled  in  which  he  said  he  supposed  I  had  been  in  America 
just  about  long  enough  to  be  able  to  draw  the  long-bow  as  well  as  any 
of  those  Yankees  with  whom  I  had  been  associating!" 

The  secretary  soon  found  that  he  must  perform  little  duties  not 
called  for  in  the  bond.  Among  other  things,  he  had  to  buy  clothes 
for  Edison  in  order  to  keep  him  looking  half  respectable,  for  Edison 
himself  was  too  much  engrossed  with  the  things  that  were  in  him  to 
be  fastidious  about  what  was  on  him.  Edison  "took  to"  the  young 
man  at  once.  Within  a  few  months  Mr.  Insull  was  given  an  interest 
in  every  Edison  enterprise.  He  had  to  take  entire  charge  of  Mr. 
Edison's  finances  and  looked  after  all  sorts  of  personal  and  company 
aflPairs  for  his  chief. 

"I  used  to  open  the  correspondence  and  answer  it  all,"  Mr.  Insull 
recalls,  "sometimes  signing  Edison's  name  with  my  initial,  and  some- 


SAMUEL  INSULL  207 

times  signing  my  own  name.  If  the  latter  course  was  pursued,  and  I 
was  addressing  a  stranger,  I  would  sign  as  Edison's  private  secretary. 
I  held  his  power  of  attorney,  and  signed  his  checks.  It  was  seldom 
that  Edison  signed  a  letter  or  check  at  this  time.  If  he  wanted  per- 
sonally to  send  a  communication  to  anybody,  if  it  was  one  of  his  close 
associates,  it  would  probably  be  a  pencil  memorandum,  signed  'Edi- 
son.' I  seldom  took  down  from  Edison's  dictation,  unless  it  was  on 
some  technical  subject  that  I  did  not  understand.  I  was  expected 
to  clean  up  the  correspondence  with  Edison's  laconic  comments  as  a 
guide  as  to  the  character  of  answer  to  make.  It  was  a  very  common 
thing  for  Edison  to  write  the  words  *Yes'  or  'No,'  and  this  would  be 
all  I  had  on  which  to  base  my  answer.  Edison  marginalized  docu- 
ments extensively.  He  had  a  wonderful  ability  in  pointing  out  the 
weak  points  of  an  agreement  or  a  balance-sheet,  all  the  while  protest- 
ing he  was  no  lawyer  or  accountant;  and  his  views  were  expressed  in 
very  few  words,  but  in  a  characteristic  and  emphatic  manner." 

"How  many  hours  a  day  might  you  have  worked  in  those  times .^" 
I  asked  Mr.  InsuU. 

"I  had  to  work  in  the  office  all  day,  look  after  the  financial  and 
business  end,  and  then  very  often  I  would  be  with  Mr.  Edison  at  his 
laboratory  most  of  the  night,"  replied  Mr.  Insull.  "We  usually 
worked  about  four  nights  in  seven.  We  seldom  worked  on  Sunday 
nights  but,  as  a  rule,  we  were  at  it  during  most  of  Monday  night  and 
Tuesday  night.  By  Wednesday  night  we  were  so  exhausted  through 
lack  of  sleep  that  we  usually  spent  that  night  in  bed. 

"Thursday  and  Friday  nights  saw  us  busy  again  until  well  into  the 
morning.  I  have  known  Edison  to  work  night  and  day  ten  days  on 
end.  He  seemed  to  be  able  to  do  without  sleep  as  long  as  a  camel  can 
go  without  water." 

These  were  busy  days.  Writing  to  an  English  friend  two  months 
after  his  arrival  in  New  York,  Mr.  Insull  expressed  exuberant  confi- 
dence in  the  prospects  for  electricity.  He  recited  how  he  had  seen 
700  lights  burn  the  current  generated  from  one  electric  machine  for 
them  all  and  supplied  through  mains  of  "no  less  than  eight  miles  in 
length."  He  explained  that  the  first  district  to  be  lighted  up  in 
New  York  would  have  about  15,650  lights  and  added:  "I  suppose 
that  this  district  will  be  all  lighted  up  in  from  three  to  four  months 
and  then  you  will  see  what  you  will  see.  You  will  witness  the  amazing 
sight  of  those  English  scientists  eating  that  unpalatable  crow  of  which 
Johnson  used  to  speak  in  his  letters  to  me  when  I  was  in  the  old 
country.  ...  A  great  difficulty  is  to  get  our  machinery  manu- 
factured." 

The  first  central  power  station  was  opened  in  Pearl  Street,  in  lower 
New  York,  in  September,  1882.     Mr.  Edison  had  completed  the  In- 


2o8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

vention  of  his  incandescent  lamp  but  encountered  enormous  difficulties 
in  having  supplies  of  the  necessary  materials  manufactured,  in  in- 
augurating proper  methods  of  distribution,  in  reducing  the  amount  of 
copper  required  for  the  conductors,  etc.,  etc.  Mr.  Edison  had  sold 
out  for  large  sums  his  telephone  and  telegraph  inventions  and  in- 
terests both  in  Europe  and  at  home  and  this  money  he  had  freely 
poured  into  his  various  manufacturing  companies  for  making  lamps, 
electrical  generators  and  motors,  electric  tubes  and  fixtures,  and 
miscellaneous  appliances.  Although  Edison  spent  his  last  penny, 
he  could  scarcely  cope  with  the  situation. 

"At  one  time  everything  looked  so  blue  and  so  hopeless,"  Mr. 
Insull  told  me,  "that  Edison  said  to  me  one  night  in  all  seriousness: 
*If  we  cannot  pull  through,  I  can  go  back  to  earning  my  living  as  a 
telegraph  operator  and  I  suppose  you  could  get  along  as  a  shorthand 
writer.' 

"For  six  months  things  were  so  involved  and  money  so  scarce  that 
I  was  compelled  to  get  a  friend,  who  had  been  a  little  more  thoughtful 
of  the  rainy  day  than  the  rest  of  us,  to  lend  me  money  to  pay  for  my 
meals  and  my  room. 

"Mr.  Edison,  and  I  as  his  financial  man,  were  harassed  at  every 
turn  by  creditors.  Looking  back  from  this  long  distance,  I  must 
confess  that  our  troubles  then  were  really  very  serious. 

"However,  we  stuck  to  it  and  finally  managed  to  get  on  our  feet. 
About  the  only  people  who  were  willing  to  assist  us  in  those  early 
days  were  J.  P.  Morgan  and  Henry  Villard." 

Other  veterans  have  told  me  tiiat  they  question  whether  Mr.  Edison 
would  have  been  able  to  surmount  the  obstacles  that  met  him  at  every 
turn  had  it  not  been  for  the  heroic  fight  made  by  Sam  Insull.  What 
the  world  would  have  lost,  how  much  of  the  progress  of  the  last  genera- 
tion would  have  been  forfeited,  had  Edison  succumbed  and  retired 
to  oblivion,  who  can  guess.'*  For  the  loyal  assistance  and  encourage- 
ment he  then  lent  Edison  day  and  night,  the  American  people  owe 
Mr.  Insull  a  meed  of  gratitude. 

To  escape  incessant  labour  troubles  at  their  machine  shop  on 
Goerck  Street,  N.  Y.,  and  at  other  points,  it  was  decided  to  build  works  at 
Schenectady,  N.  Y.,  where  there  was  an  ample  supply  of  workers  and 
where  the  Schenectady  Locomotive  Works  (now  part  of  the  Ameri- 
can Locomotive  Company)  had  established  a  great  reputation.  Mr. 
Insull  took  charge  of  this  epochal  enterprise,  and  as  its  general  man- 
ager built  it  up  from  a  plant  employing  250  men  to  one  employing 
6,000.  It  was  this  plant  which  later  formed  the  nucleus  for  the  great 
General  Electric  Company.  His  close  association  with  the  wizard 
had  enabled  Mr.  Insull  to  gain  a  thorough  practical  knowledge  of 
every  phase  of  the  business  and  he  also  developed  ability  to  handle  men. 


SAMUEL  INSULL  209 

Apropos  of  this,  Edison  was  once  asked  to  give  particulars  of  Samuel 
InsuU's  collegiate  education  in  connection  with  the  latter's  applica- 
tion for  membership  in  a  learned  society.  Edison  wrote  down  this 
reply: 

"Samuel  InsuU's  education  has  been  obtained  in  the  college  of 
experience." 

Recognition  of  Mr.  InsuU's  yeoman  service  came  in  1889.  Various 
Edison  manufacturing  companies  and  the  Edison  Light  Company 
were  consolidated  into  the  Edison  General  Electric  Company.  He 
became  vice-president  in  charge  of  the  entire  manufacturing  and 
selling  ends  of  the  business.  He  continued  in  this  responsible  position 
until  shortly  after  June,  1892,  when  the  Edison  General  Electric 
Company  amalgamated  with  the  Thomson-Houston  Company  to 
form  the  present  General  Electric  Company.  In  the  fall  of  that  year 
Mr.  InsuU  resigned  to  accept  the  presidency  of  the  Chicago  Edison 
Company. 

He  found  this  concern  had  a  total  capital  of  only  $883,000,  that  it 
was  not  the  largest  concern  in  the  city,  and  that  it  had  almost  a  score 
of  competitors.  It  employed  only  a  handful  of  men  and  had  a  ca- 
pacity of  only  4,000  horse-power. 

Few  men  have  done  more  creative,  constructive  work,  conceived 
more  productive  developments,  or  overcome  more  technical  and  socio- 
logical difficulties  in  the  last  twenty-five  years  than  Samuel  In- 
suU. 

Instead  of  less  than  $1,000,000  of  capital,  Mr.  InsuU's  Chicago 
company  (now  the  Commonwealth  Edison)  has  actual  assets  of 
$85,000,000. 

Instead  of  4,000  horse-power,  it  has  500,000  horse-power. 

Instead  of  consuming  a  few  hundred  tons  of  coal  a  week,  the  com- 
pany now  uses  as  much  as  300  tons  of  coal  in  a  single  hour. 

He  is  head  of  the  People's  Gas  Company  and  of  the  Elevated  Rail- 
ways of  Chicago  which,  together  with  the  electric  company,  have  a 
turnover  of  $1,000,000  every  week  and  represent  the  investment  of 
$275,000,000. 

Through  the  Middle  West  Utilities  Company  and  other  organiza- 
tions brought  into  being  and  controlled  by  him,  Mr.  InsuU  supplies 
350  communities  spread  over  thirteen  or  fourteen  states  with  electric 
light  and  power,  bringing  the  total  annual  revenue  of  his  various 
companies  up  to  $75,000,000  a  year  and  making  the  total  investment 
capital  between  $400,000,000  and  $450,000,000  for  all  the  InsuU 
companies. 

His  1892  force  of  a  few  men  has  grown  to  an  army  of  over  25,000. 

Customers  have  increased  from  hundreds  to  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands— and  are  still  constantly  increasing. 


2IO 


MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 


The  value  of  Commonwealth  Edison  lias  multiplied  loo  times  in 
the  twenty-five  years. 

Mr.  Insull  several  years  ago  demonstrated  in  black  and  white  that 
he  could  supply  the  elevated  railroads  of  Chicago  with  current  at  a 
lower  rate  than  they  themselves  could  generate  it,  and  his  company 
now  turns  every  elevated  w^hecl  throughout  the  city. 

Instead  of  several  central  stations  peddling  electric  current,  Chicago 
now  has  only  one  great  station,  the  baby  of  1892,  now  a  giant  of  greater 
proportions  than  any  other  metropolis  in  the  world  can  boast. 

Perhaps  the  best  and  briefest  way  to  convey  some  idea  of  what 
Samuel  Insull  has  achieved  will  be  to  present  a  list  of  the  enterprises 
of  which  he  is  head  either  as  chairman  or  president,  and  the  concerns 
in  whose  management  he  has  a  voice  as  director: 

People's  Gas  Light  &  Coke  Company 

Commonwealth  Edison  Comiiany 

Public  Service  Company  of  Northern  Illinois 

Middle  West  Utilities  Company 

Illinois  Northern  Utilities  Company 

Twin  State  Gas  &:  Electric  Company 

Sterling,  Dixon  &c  Eastern  Railway  Co. 

Central  Illinois  Public  Service  Company 

Kentucky  Utilities  Company 

Missouri  Gas  &  Electric  Service  Co. 

Interstate  Public  Service  Company 

Public  Service  Company  of  Oklahoma 

Electric  Transmission  Co.  of  Virginia 

Federal  Sign  System  (Electric) 

Northwestern  Elevated  Railroad  Company 

South  Side  Elevated  Railroad  Company 

The  Metropolitan  West  Side  Elevated  Railway  Co. 

Chicago  &  Oak  Park  Elevated  Railroad  Co. 

Chicago  Elevated  Railways  Collateral  Trust 

American  Water  Works  &  Electric  Co. 

West  Penn  Traction  &  Water  Power  Co. 

West  Penn  Traction  Company 

West  Penn  Railways  Company 

West  Penn  Power  Company 

Great  Lakes  Power  Co.,  Ltd. 

International  Transit  Company 

Central  Power  Company 

Illinois  Midland  Coal  Company 

Midland  Counties  Coal  Company 

The  Chicago  &  Alton  Railroad  Co. 

Electrical  Testing  Laboratories 

Chicago  City  &  Connecting  Railways  Collateral  Trust 

Chicago  North  Shore  &  Milwaukee  Railroad 

Chicago  &  Interurban  Traction  Co. 


Chair,  of  Bd.  &  Dir. 
President  &  Director 


Chair,  of  Bd.  &  Dir. 

<(  ((  a 

((  <(  << 

Director 

(< 
Chair,  of  Bd.  &  Dir. 


Receiver 

Chair.  Exec.  Comm. 

Director 

President  &  Director 


Director 


Member  of  Comm. 
Chair,  of  Bd.  &:  Dir. 


His  policy  in  dealing  with  the  public — and  the  politicians — has 
been    "Publicity."     From   the    start   he    has    advocated    regulated 


SAMUEL  INSULL  211 

monopoly  of  the  public  services,  since  duplicate  plants  mean  waste 
investment  and  therefore  higher  costs  to  consumers.  He  has  not 
hesitated  to  reveal  the  minutest  details  of  his  costs,  the  return  on  the 
capital  invested,  and  everything  else  connected  with  the  business. 
His  theory  has  been  that  by  securing  an  enormous  volume  of  business, 
distributed  as  evenly  as  possible  throughout  the  twenty-four  hours, 
electric  light  and  power  could  be  sold  at  a  lower  figure  than  would  be 
possible  under  any  other  conditions. 

As  a  matter  of  incontrovertible  fact,  Chicago,  thanks  to  Mr.  In- 
sull's  tremendously  aggressive  policy,  enjoys  the  lowest  rates  for  elec- 
tric current  of  any  large  city  at  home  or  abroad. 

He  has  been  a  pioneer  in  installing  new  devices,  especially  the  more 
recent  high-power,  costly  machinery  designed  for  large-scale  pro- 
duction at  lower  costs. 

But  while  ceaselessly  seeking  to  improve  the  production  end,  he  has 
devoted  even  more  attention  to  developing  the  selling  end  of  the 
business.  He  has  been  a  great  believer  in  advertising,  in  making  the 
public  acquainted  with  what  electricity  can  do  for  the  housewife, 
the  storekeeper,  the  manufacturer,  the  railways.  While  others 
sought  to  antagonize  the  investigation  mania  that  swept  over  the 
country  a  decade  ago,  Mr.  Insull  willingly  volunteered  to  put  all  his 
cards  on  the  table.  He  also  spent  much  time  in  giving  private  and 
pubhc  advice  (through  addresses,  etc.)  to  other  corporations  to  deal 
with  the  public  frankly,  fairly,  and  cheerfully. 

Mr,  Insull  believes  that  the  age  of  electricity  is  only  dawning,  that 
developments  of  a  magnitude  not  yet  imagined  are  even  now  on  the 
way,  and  that  by  and  by  the  greater  part  of  the  world's  work  will  be 
performed  by  the  harnessing  of  the  mysterious  vital  fluid  in  a  thousand 
ways  which  even  Edison  has  not  yet  had  opportunity  to  tackle. 

He  believes,  for  instance,  that  properly  conducted  central  electric 
stations  should  and  will  furnish  the  power  to  run  all  the  railroads  in 
the  country,  the  railroad  people  attending  to  the  operation  of  their 
systems  and  the  electrical  people  attending  to  the  supplying  of  the 
motive  power.  To  Mr.  Insull,  Germany's  dream  of  dividing  the 
whole  country  into  a  number  of  zones  within  which  every  house  and 
factory  and  railway  will  be  supplied  by  electric  power  from  one  huge 
plant  in  each  zone,  is  not  so  extremely  fantastic  as  many  imagine. 
A  similar  scheme  for  the  United  Kingdom  was  proposed  by  a  very 
famous  British  engineer,  S.  Z.  de  Ferranti,  years  ago.  If  Mr.  Insull 
lives  long  enough  I  rather  think  he  may  do  something  along  this  line 
in  the  United  States — indeed,  he  has  already  made  a  substantial 
start  in  Illinois  and  in  a  dozen  or  more  Middle  Western  states,  al- 
though so  far  he  has  not  been  able  to  do  much  with  the  steam  rail- 
roads. 


212  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"What  has  been  the  hardest  part  of  your  battle — obtaining  fran- 
chises, satisfying  the  people,  or  what?"  I  asked  Mr.  InsuU. 

"Raising  the  money,"  was  the  emphatic  reply.  "The  public  are 
usually  fair  when  they  are  fully  and  properly  acquainted  with  the 
facts." 

"And  your  greatest  pleasure?" 

"The  pleasure  of  achievement — of  doing  things,  of  building  up,  of 
creating  something  constructive." 

"What  are  the  principal  requisites  for  a  successful  career?"  I  next 
asked. 

"Good  health,  imagination,  persistency,  and  a  good  memory — and, 
of  course,  keeping  everlastingly  at  it." 

"How  can  a  man  acquire  a  good  memory?"  I  pursued. 

"The  way  to  cultivate  a  memory  is  to  exercise  it.  The  man  w'ho 
takes  a  great  interest  in  his  business  has  little  or  no  trouble  to  remem- 
ber the  main  facts  connected  w^th  it.  You  usually  remember  the 
people  you  like;  in  the  same  way,  if  you  like  your  business,  you  can 
easily  remember  the  facts  governing  it  without  even  making  any  spe- 
cial effort.     Don't  carry  a  notebook  in  your  hand  all  the  time." 

"Why  do  so  many  young  men  and  even  older  men  fail  to  succeed?" 
was  my  next  question. 

"Because  they  are  not  willing  to  make  the  necessary  sacrifices. 
As  Edison  used  to  say,  *A  man  should  never  look  at  the  clock  except 
to  be  sure  he  gets  to  work  early  enough  in  the  morning.'" 

Mr.  InsuU  has  always  been  an  early  riser — he  is  still  about  the  first 
man  to  reach  the  office  in  the  morning. 

"You  often,"  Mr.  Insull  continued,  "hear  fellows  in  different  com- 
panies and  institutions  remark:  'Oh,  So  and  So  is  solid  with  the  Old 
Man.'  If  you  take  the  trouble  to  investigate,  you  will  invariably 
find  that  the  employee  w^ho  is  'solid  with  the  Old  Man'  is  a  real 
worker,  one  who  is  always  on  the  job,  one  who  is  ready  to  do  things  at 
any  hour  and  to  go  anywhere,  whereas  the  complainer  is  likely  to  be 
more  concerned  about  how"  he  can  find  entertainment  for  himself  in 
the  evening  than  how  he  can  increase  his  usefulness  during  the  day. 

"Then,  non-success  is  often  due  to  inability  to  see  things,  to  note 
intelligently  what  other  people  are  doing,  to  learn  what  is  what  and 
to  grasp  new  opportunities.  They  don't  seem  to  keep  their  eye  on  the 
ball." 

Mr.  Insull  is  entitled  to  talk  on  such  matters.  He  had  to  leave 
school  shortly  after  he  was  fourteen — he  was  born  on  November  ii, 
1859 — and  began  life  as  an  office-boy  at  $1.25  a  week,  a  sum  which  he 
had  to  supplement  by  finding  other  duties  in  the  evenings.  He  taught 
himself  shorthand  when  still  a  boy — and  the  rest  I  have  tried  to  tell 
in  the  foregoing  brief  sketch. 


SAMUEL  INSULL  213 

His  favourite  hobby  is  farming.  He  has  a  3,500-acre  farm  in 
Lake  County,  III.,  about  thirty  miles  from  Chicago,  where  he  is 
rendering  invaluable  service  to  the  State  by  raising,  and  showing 
other  farmers  how  to  raise,  high-class  cattle,  horses,  sheep,  and  hogs 
and  how  to  introduce  improved  methods  of  agriculture. 


OTTO  H.  KAHN 

MANY  American  mushroom  millionaires  affect  art  but  few 
understand  it  or  really  love  it.  Quite  a  number  of  the 
7iouveaux  riches  become  enamoured  of  grand  opera — ostensi- 
bly. Others  develop  a  consuming  passion  for  the  collection  of  rare 
books  and  manuscripts — the  contents  of  which  they  cannot  ap- 
preciate. America  has  one  notable  financier  who  does  not  need 
a  tutor  when  he  goes  picture-hunting,  not  even  when  he  spends 
$5CK),ooo  for  a  Franz  Hals  masterpiece.  Nor  when  he  attends  the 
opera  does  he  need  an  interpreter,  be  the  production  in  French  or 
Italian  or  German.  He  knows  more  about  the  fundamentals  of 
grand  opera  and  its  production  than  most  professionals. 

While  he  has  won  a  place  second  to  none  among  modern  financiers, 
he  has  made  an  even  greater  impress  and  achieved  even  more  valuable 
ends  in  the  realm  of  art  and  music  and  culture.     He  is  Otto  H.  Kahn. 

He  is  a  banker — plus.  He  is  an  art  connoisseur — plus.  No  man 
has  come  more  prominently  to  the  front  in  finance  during  the  last 
dozen  years  and  no  man  has  done  so  much  as  he,  not  only  to  give 
America  the  finest  operatic  fare  in  the  world,  but  also  to  bring  art — 
not  only  operatic  art — within  reach  of  the  public.  Though  engaged 
during  these  years  in  the  reorganization  of  more  transportation  sys- 
tems than  any  other  man  in  America,  yet  he  has  found  time  to  reor- 
ganize the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  from  top  to  bottom,  to  provide 
opera  of  the  highest  quality  for  other  leading  American  cities,  to  take  a 
leading  part  in  the  Society  of  Friends  of  Young  Artists,  to  arrange  for 
excellent  summer  concerts  at  nominal  prices,  to  be  the  main  factor 
in  the  French  Theatre  of  America,  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  Shakes- 
peare Tercentenary  Committee,  and  to  bring  into  being  w^hat  was 
destined  to  be  a  model  playhouse  where  people  of  small  means  but 
artistic  tastes  could  enjoy  wholesome  dramatic  food. 

Though  an  aristocrat  by  birth  and  breeding  and  association,  Mr. 
Kahn's  non-business  activities  have  been  inspired,  not  by  a  wish  to 
tickle  the  whims  and  the  jaded  appetites  of  those  of  his  own  social 
standing,  but  by  an  inborn  desire  to  furnish  for  the  masses  the  mental 
and  spiritual  nourishment  afforded  by  genuine  art  and  beauty  and 
culture.  "For,"  as  he  said  in  a  recent  speech,  "art  is  democracy,  art 
is  equality  of  opportunity,  not  the  false  democracy  which,  misunder- 
standing or  misinterpreting  the  purpose  and  meaning  of  the  demo- 

214 


OrrO  H.  KAHN 


OTTO  H.  KAHN  215 

cratic  conception,  seeks  or  tends  to  establish  a  common  level  of  medioc- 
rity, but  the  true  democracy  which,  guided  by  the  star  of  the  ideal 
and  firm  in  its  faith,  strives  to  lead  us  all  onward  and  upward  to  an 
ever  higher  plane." 

When  first  these  promptings  took  possession  of  him,  shortly  after 
his  settling  in  New  York  and  before  he  had  made  his  mark  in  the 
financial  world,  he  revealed  his  longing  to  his  friend  and  confidant, 
the  late  Edward  H,  Harriman,  half  expecting  that  the  railroad 
wizard,  himself  engrossed  in  business,  would  frown  upon  the  ambition 
to  mix  music  and  art  with  money-making,  the  beautiful  with  the 
mundane,  the  ideal  with  the  practical.  In  those  days  only  dilettanti 
busied  themselves  in  the  production  of  opera  or  took  an  active  part 
in  matters  of  art  in  general.  To  spend  time  over  such  frills  and 
frivolities  was  interpreted  as  reflecting  a  lack  of  seriousness  of  purpose, 
of  only  half-hearted  interest  in  the  stern  realities  of  life  and  fortune- 
making. 

"Go  ahead  and  do  it,"  Mr.  Harriman  replied  unequivocally.  "If 
you  don't  let  it  interfere  with  your  application  to  business,  if  you  keep 
it  in  its  place,  it  will  do  you  not  harm,  but  good.  It  will  be  exercise 
and  practice  for  imagination.  Don't  you  ever  let  your  imagination 
get  rusty." 

It  was  not  long  before  Otto  H.  Kahn  made  his  influence  felt  in 
things  operatic.  He  took  hold  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  and 
reorganized  it  as  he  would  have  reorganized  a  railroad,  purging  it  of 
deadwood,  introducing  valuable  reforms,  infusing  new  life  into  it, 
and  setting  up  as  its  goal  artistic  achievement  in  place  of  mere  mone- 
tary success,  an  operation  that  entailed  the  solving  of  many  problems, 
the  vanquishing  of  much  opposition,  and,  incidentally,  considerable 
cost  to  himself  and  the  few  kindred  spirits  who  sympathized  with  his 
unselfish  aims.  But  his  wisdom  was  justified  by  its  fruits,  not  only 
in  New  York  but  also  in  Boston,  Chicago,  and  Philadelphia. 

To  Kahn,  music,  beautiful  paintings,  artistic  statuary,  literature, 
and  other  things  often  regarded  lightly  are  meat  and  drink  and  reli- 
gion, the  very  essentials  of  a  full  life,  indispensable  food  for  both  body 
and  soul.  He  believes,  with  Carlyle,  that  "music  is  the  speech  of 
angels." 

"Art,"  declares  Mr.  Kahn,  "can  be  as  educational  as  universities. 
It  has  elements  which,  to  a  great  part  of  our  population,  can  make  it  as 
nourishing  as  soup  kitchens,  as  healing  as  hospitals,  as  stimulating  as 
any  medicinal  tonic.  Maecenases  are  needed  for  the  dramatic  stage, 
the  operatic  stage,  the  concert  stage;  for  conservatories  and  art 
academies;  for  the  encouragement  and  support  of  American  writers, 
painters,  sculptors,  decorators — in  fact,  for  all  those  things  which  in 
Europe  are  done  by  princes,  governments,  and  communities.    There  is 


2i6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

vast  opportunity  here  for  cultural  and  helpful  work.  To  strive  toward 
fostering  the  art  life  of  the  country,  toward  counteracting  harsh 
materialism,  toward  relieving  the  monotony  and  strain  of  the  people's 
every-day  life  by  helping  to  awaken  or  foster  in  them  the  love  and 
the  understanding  of  that  which  is  beautiful  and  inspiring,  and  aver- 
sion and  contempt  for  that  which  is  vulgar,  cheap,  and  degrading — 
this  is  a  humanitarian  effort  eminently  worth  making." 

How  came  Mr.  Kahn  to  take  the  graces  of  life  so  seriously  .f" 

Briefly,  he  imbibed  it  at  his  mother's  knee,  was  raised  on  it  during 
the  boyhood  years  spent  in  his  own  home,  and  had  it  parentally  im- 
pressed upon  him  that,  whatever  the  world  might  have  in  store  for 
him,  whatever  his  fate  or  fortune  in  things  material,  he  must  hold  fast 
to  the  priceless,  intangible  things  which  alone  could  enrich  the  mind 
and  the  soul  and  give  to  life  its  savour. 

This  home  of  Otto  Hermann  Kahn  was  in  Mannheim,  Germany. 
He  was  one  of  eight  children.  His  father  was  a  prosperous  banker, 
and  the  Kahn  home  was  a  centre  for  artists,  musicians,  singers,  sculp- 
tors, and  writers.  Young  Otto's  earliest  ambition  was  to  be  a  musi- 
cian, and  before  he  graduated  from  high  school  he  had  learned  to 
play  several  instruments.  His  father,  however,  had  other  plans  for 
him.  One  brother  was  allowed  to  follow  Apollo,  and  became  Professor 
of  Music  at  the  Royal  Academy  of  Music  of  Berlin. 

When  Otto  was  seventeen — he  was  born  on  February  21,  1867 — 
he  was  placed  in  a  bank  at  Karlsruhe,  near  Mannheim,  where  he 
received  an  unceremonious  baptism  into  the  financial  cult,  his  princi- 
pal duties  for  some  time  being  cleaning  the  inkwells  of  the  other  clerks, 
running  out  to  buy  sausages,  beer,  and  other  victuals  for  their  lunch 
and  being  generally  kicked  around  in  a  manner  calculated  to  cure  any 
symptoms  of  swell-headedness  at  the  prospect  of  being  installed  as  a 
"banker."  Incidentally,  it  is  difficult  to  picture  the  immaculate, 
dignified,  polished  Otto  H.  Kahn  of  to-day  toting  the  beer  can  and 
wiping  out  inkwells! 

"Yes,  it  is  true,"  Mr.  Kahn  admitted  when  I  asked  him  if  what  I 
had  been  told  about  this  was  the  truth.  "And  it  was  a  useful,  salu- 
tary training,  for  it  taught  discipline  and  order.  One  must  learn 
to  obey  before  he  is  fit  to  command.  It  instilled  a  proper  sense  of 
one's  place  and  emphasized  that  the  most  humble  duties  must  be 
performed  conscientiously  and  without  any  loss  of  self-respect.  I 
suppose  I  must  have  wiped  the  inkwells  fairly  satisfactorily,  for  it 
was  not  long  before  I  was  promoted  and  had  another  novitiate  to 
clean  my  inkwell  and  fetch  my  lunch." 

During  these  apprenticeship  years  he  attended  lectures  on  art, 
continued  to  study  and  practise  music,  and  in  other  ways  fulfilled  the 
parental  injunction  not  to  neglect  this  side  of  his  development  lest 


OTTO  H.  KAHN  217 

he  contract  a  wrong  perspective  of  life  and  of  the  relative  value  of  the 
materialistic  and  the  idealistic.  After  three  years'  service  in  Karls- 
ruhe he  went  into  the  army  as  a  hussar  for  a  year,  an  experience  which 
has  left  its  traces  to  this  day:  Mr.  Kahn  is  straight  of  back,  invariably 
correct  in  posture,  precise  and  snappy  in  deportment. 

The  young  banker's  training  was  to  be  Teutonically  thorough. 
Mere  domestic  experience  was  not  enough;  he  must  needs  be  broadened 
by  international  travel  and  service.  His  next  step,  therefore,  was 
to  enter  the  important  London  agency  of  the  Deutsche  Bank.  Here 
he  displayed  unusual  talents  and  rapidly  rose  to  be  second-in-com- 
mand. 

Although  he  had  not  gone  to  London  with  any  settled  purpose  to 
make  his  home  there  permanently,  he  developed  so  intense  a  liking  and 
admiration  for  the  English  mode  of  life,  both  political  and  social, 
with  its  unbounded  freedom,  breadth,  opportunity,  and  inspiring 
traditions,  that  he  renounced  his  German  citizenship  and  became 
naturalized  as  an  Englishman.  Comparison  between  life  in  Eng- 
land and  that  in  Germany  moved  him  to  choose  the  former.  He 
became  an  "Englishman  from  conviction." 

This  same  spirit  of  democracy,  coupled  with  a  desire  to  enhance 
and  diversify  his  knowledge  of  banking,  impelled  Mr.  Kahn  to  seize 
an  opportunity  to  gain  first-hand  insight  into  the  functioning  of  the 
greatest  republic  under  the  sun.  His  talents  had  attracted  the  notice 
of  the  Speyers  in  London,  and  they  offered  him  a  position  in  their 
New  York  house.  Mr.  Kahn  came  to  the  United  States  in  1893, 
intending  to  remain  here  only  temporarily. 

But  he  found  his  task  here  of  absorbing  and  arresting  interest,  and 
life  and  the  people  very  congenial.  Particularly  did  he  find  one 
American  congenial.  In  1896  he  married  Miss  Addie  Wolff,  daughter 
of  Abraham  Wolff,  one  of  the  early  upbuilders  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  & 
Company.  It  was  on  January  i,  1897,  that  Mr.  Kahn  joined  the 
firm  whose  prestige  and  influence,  already  great,  he  was  destined  to 
enhance  extraordinarily.  He  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  thrown  into 
immediate  contact  with  Harriman — and  Harriman  had  the  good 
fortune  to  be  thrown  into  contact  with  Kahn.  The  two,  notwith- 
standing sharply  defined  differences  in  temperament  and  method, 
became  as  brothers.  Harriman  in  business  was  gruff,  truculent, 
domineering,  almost  spoiling  for  a  fight.  As  Mr.  Kahn,  with  true 
insight  and  praiseworthy  candour  says  in  his  excellent  study  of  Mr. 
Harriman — the  only  serious  appraisement  published  of  the  great 
railroad  gladiator:  "Smooth  diplomacy,  the  talent  of  leading  men 
almost  without  their  knowing  that  they  were  being  led,  skilful  achieve- 
ment by  winning  compromise,  were  not  his  methods.  His  genius  was 
the  genius  of  a  Bismarck,  of  a  Roman  Caesar.      His  dominion  was 


2i8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

based  on  rugged  strength,  iron  will  and  tenacity,  irresistible  deter- 
mination, indomitable  courage,  tireless  toil,  marvellous  ability,  fore- 
sight almost  prophetic,  and,  last  but  not  least,  upon  those  qualities 
of  character  which  command  men's  trust  and  confidence;  his  rule  was 
frankly  the  rule  of  the  conqueror.  He  was  constitutionally  unable 
either  to  cajole  or  dissemble.     He  was  stifFnecked  to  a  fault." 

Mr.  Kahn,  the  travelled,  cultured  banker  and  diplomat,  although 
not  possessed  of  the  bonhomie  or  the  captivating  smile  of  a  Schwab, 
had  learned  the  value  of  suavity,  of  covering  the  iron  fist  with  a  velvet 
glove,  of  cultivating  the  cooperation  and  good-will  of  others  rather 
than  rousing  their  combativeness  and  their  ill-will.  Often  he  reasoned 
with  Harriman  to  use  more  gentle  methods,  but  Harriman  would  in- 
variably reply:  "You  may  be  right  that  these  things  could  be  so 
accomplished,  but  not  by  me.  I  can  work  only  in  my  own  way.  I 
cannot  make  myself  different  nor  act  in  a  way  foreign  to  me.  This  is 
not  arrogance  on  my  part.  I  simply  cannot  achieve  anything  if  I 
try  to  compromise  with  my  nature  and  to  follow  the  notions  of  others." 

Although  only  thirty  years  of  age,  Mr.  Kahn  almost  immediately 
became  Harriman's  right-hand  man  in  thegigantic  task  of  reorganizing 
the  Union  Pacific,  a  task  which  in  its  early  stages  had  been  handled 
by  the  head  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Company,  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  with  a  skill 
and  effectiveness  for  which  Mr.  Schiff  did  not  receive  adequate  credit. 
Harriman  discovered  in  the  young  banker  a  mind  as  quick  and  fertile 
as  his  own,  a  depth  and  breadth  of  vision  astonishing  in  a  man  so 
young,  ability  to  analyze  mathematically  and  scientifically,  not  only 
financial,  but  railroad  problems  with  a  thoroughness  and  accuracy 
which  captivated  the  railroad  wizard.  That  Mr.  Kahn  owes  some- 
thing of  his  subsequent  success  in  railroad  finance  to  his  intimate 
association  with  Harriman,  he  would  be  the  last  to  deny.  Indeed, 
he  has  preserved  for  the  memory  of  his  great  friend  the  most  profound 
affection  and  reverence. 

To-day  Otto  H.  Kahn  is  recognized  as  perhaps  the  ablest  reorganizer 
of  railroads  in  the  United  States.  The  systems  which  have  been  or 
are  being  treated  by  him,  in  addition  to  the  Union  Pacific,  include 
the  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  Missouri  Pacific,  Wabash,  Chicago  &  Eastern 
Illinois,  and  the  Texas  &  Pacific,  not  to  mention  other  similar  opera- 
tions to  which  he  has  been  called  in  as  a  consulting  financial  physician. 

"Reorganizations,"  remarked  Mr.  Kahn,  "embody  a  certain  ele- 
ment of  romance;  they  call  for  constructive  imagination.  To  take 
a  broken-down  property,  a  few  streaks  of  rails,  and  aid  in  working  a 
transformation  which  will  bring  into  being  a  great  transportation 
system  to  serve  the  country  and,  incidentally,  to  rehabilitate  the 
owners,  is  a  species  of  creative  work  which  fascinates  me.  It  yields 
the  joy  of  creation. 


OTTO  H.  KAHN  219 

"Taking  hold  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House  when  it  had  ceased 
todofull  justice  to  its  functions  and  was  living  largely  on  its  reputation 
and  on  the  splendour  of  a  few  big  stars,  neglecting  the  other  attributes 
of  a  great  opera  house,  such  as  a  chorus,  stage  setting,  orchestra,  and 
ensemble  work,  also  appealed  to  this  desire  to  create  something.  Just 
like  a  broken-down  railroad,  it  did  not  have  the  necessary  equipment 
to  make  it  a  complete,  well-rounded  organization.  To  take  a  hand 
in  remodelling  this  institution  and  making  of  it  a  great  symmetrical, 
artistic  organization  with  its  appointments  and  equipment  function- 
ing effectively,  was  an  irresistible  task  and  one  well  worth  doing, 
both  for  the  creative  joy  it  carried  with  it  and  the  valuable  public 
service  thereby  attained." 

It  was  Kahn  who,  after  all  efforts  to  cure  by  conciliatory  methods 
the  inveterate  mismanagement  of  the  great  Missouri  Pacific  system 
had  failed  to  bring  results,  finally  resorted  to  steel  and  gave  the  Gould 
dominion  the  coup  de  grace. 

It  was  Kahn,  also,  who  saved  the  financial  world  from  what  threat- 
ened to  be  a  disaster  of  very  dangerous  potentialities  by  jumping 
forward  and  rescuing  from  collapse  the  famous  Pearson-Farquhar 
syndicate  which,  with  more  ambition  than  judgment,  had  over- 
extended itself  in  a  daring  attempt  to  weld  together  a  transcontinental 
system  out  of  a  combination  of  existing  lines  controlled  by  powerful 
interests. 

It  was  Kahn,  too,  who  played  a  leading  role  in  the  intricate,  deHcate 
negotiations  which  led  to  the  opening  of  the  doors  of  the  Paris  Bourse 
to  American  securities  and  the  listing  there  of  $50,000,000  Pennsyl- 
vania bonds,  in  1906 — the  first  official  listing  of  an  American  security 
in  Paris.  And  it  may  be  suspected  that  he  had  no  small  share  in 
the  negotiations  which  resulted  in  the  issue  by  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Com- 
pany of  $50,000,000  of  City  of  Paris  bonds  and  $60,000,000  Bordeaux, 
Lyons  and  Marseilles  bonds  during  the  war. 

To  come  down  to  another  recent  instance,  Mr.  Kahn  has  taken  so 
valuable  a  part  in  the  formation  and  conduct  of  the  $50,000,000 
American  International  Corporation  with  its  vast  potentialities  for 
furthering  America's  world  position  in  trade  and  finance  that  its 
president,  Charles  A.  Stone,  remarked  to  me:  "I  don't  know  what 
we  would  have  done  without  the  counsel  and  practical  assistance  of 
Mr.  Kahn.  He  is  a  wonder.  His  understanding  of  international 
affairs  is  amazing." 

Mr.  Kahn  has  more  than  fulfilled  the  prediction  made  years  ago 
by  Thomas  F.  Ryan  when  discussing  informally  the  coming  financial 
giants;  as  he  walked  and  talked  Mr.  Ryan  espied  Mr.  Kahn  coming 
along  the  street  and  remarked:  ''Here  comes  a  man  who  will  be 
among  the  first  in  the  list." 


220  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

It  was  Kahn  who  finally  succeeded  in  persuading  Harriman  to 
abandon  his  cast-iron  mask  of  secrecy;  to  reveal  himself,  his  methods, 
and  his  aims  with  great  frankness  during  the  last  two  years  of  his  life. 
Harriman  had  followed  the  methods  of  the  mole,  burrowing  here, 
there  and  everywhere,  allowing  the  public  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  his 
activities  only  when  the  fruits  of  his  burrowing  came  to  the  surface. 
Kahn,  having  early  realized  the  potency  of  democracy  and  clearly 
foreseeing  the  trend  of  events,  urged  Harriman  to  take  the  public  into 
his  confidence,  to  cease  dodging  the  representatives  of  the  press,  and 
thus  have  the  public  with  him  rather  than  against  him  in  his  many 
plans  for  the  development  of  the  nation's  transportation  facilities, 
plans  which  both  Harriman  and  Kahn  earnestly  believed  were  con- 
ducive to  the  enlargement  of  the  country's  prosperity  and  efficiency, 
agriculturally  as  well  as  industrially.  Even  in  the  short  time  Harri- 
man lived  after  his  change  of  attitude  he  accomplished  wonders  in 
disarming  and  winning  over  public  opinion,  and  had  he  lived  a  few 
years  longer  he  probably  would  have  become  a  national  hero. 

In  an  address  on  "High  Finance,"  Mr.  Kahn  made  this  statement: 
"One  of  the  characteristics  of  finance  heretofore  has  been  the  cult  of 
silence;  some  of  its  rites  have  been  almost  those  of  an  occult  science. 
Finance,  instead  of  avoiding  publicity  in  all  of  its  aspects,  should 
welcome  and  seek  it.  Publicity  won't  hurt  its  dignity.  A  dignity 
which  can  be  preserved  only  by  seclusion,  which  cannot  hold  its 
own  in  the  market  place,  is  neither  merited  nor  worth  having.  We 
must  more  and  more  get  out  of  the  seclusion  of  our  offices,  out  into  the 
rough  and  tumble  of  democracy,  out  to  get  to  know  the  people  and 
get  known  by  them.  The  eminently  successful  man  should  beware 
of  that  insidious  tendency  of  wealth  to  chill  and  isolate.  He  should 
never  forget  that  the  social  edifice  in  which  he  occupies  so  desirable 
quarters  has  been  erected  by  human  hands,  the  result  of  infinite  effort, 
sacrifice,  and  compromise,  the  aim  being  the  greatest  good  of  society; 
and  that  if  that  aim  is  clearly  shown  to  be  no  longer  served  by  the 
present  structure;  if  the  successful  man  arrogates  to  himself  too  large 
or  too  choice  a  part;  if,  selfishly,  he  crowds  out  others;  then,  what 
human  hands  have  built  up  by  the  patient  work  of  many  centuries, 
human  hands  can  pull  down  in  one  hour  of  passion." 

For  his  own  part  Mr.  Kahn  is  doing  much  to  make  finance  and 
financiers  understood  by  the  people.  He  is  attaining  no  mean  repu- 
tation as  a  writer  on  financial  and  economic  subjects  and  as  a  public 
speaker.  Moreover,  while  he  does  not  court  the  limelight  from  day 
to  day,  he  is  invariably  willing  to  see  financial  reporters  and  others 
and  to  give  them  all  reasonable  information  as  well  as  sane  views  on 
current  happenings. 

Incidentally,  while  on  this  phase  of  his  character,  I  might  add  that 


OTTO  H.  KAHN  221 

Mr.  Kahn  may  frequently  be  seen  sitting  in  the  low-priced  seats  in 
the  MetropoHtan  Opera  House  and  mingHng  freely  with  the  audience 
there,  with  those  real  lovers  of  art  who  are  willing  to  wait  in  line  for 
hours  to  gain  admission  and  who  go  to  hear,  not  to  be  seen. 

In  conceiving  the  New  Theatre  it  was  Mr.  Kahn's  idea  to  supply 
wholesome  plays,  presented  with  as  near  an  approach  to  perfection 
as  attainable,  at  moderate  prices  for  the  benefit  of  people  of  ordinary 
means,  and  to  set  an  example  to  professional  theatrical  producers  to 
the  end  that  the  whole  theatrical  business  might  be  elevated  to  a 
higher  plane.  In  this  movement  Mr.  Kahn  and  those  associated 
with  him  were  ahead  of  the  times,  hence  the  project,  as  originally 
planned,  had  to  be  abandoned.  The  New  Theatre  has  now  been 
transformed  into  the  Century  Theatre,  which  differs  little  from  other 
New  York  playhouses.  However,  another  movement  along  some- 
what similar  lines  was  inaugurated  by  Mr.  Kahn  and  others  in  con- 
nection with  the  Shakespeare  Tercentenary  and  something  permanent 
may  be  evolved. 

Greater  success  promises  to  attend  the  foundation  here  of  the 
French  Theatre,  of  which  Mr.  Kahn  is  chairman.  In  many  other 
ways  Mr.  Kahn  has  contributed  and  is  contributing  continually  to 
the  support  of  things  dramatic  and  artistic  and  to  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  artistic  world  and  its  people,  including  genuine  young 
talent. 

His  activities  are  not  confined  to  New  York.  In  addition  to  being 
chairman  of  the  Metropolitan  Opera  Company,  he  was  chairman  of 
the  Century  Opera  Company  (founded  to  give  opera  at  popular 
prices),  treasurer  of  the  New  Theatre,  vice-president  and  the  principal 
founder  of  the  Chicago  Grand  Opera  Company,  and  director  of  the 
Boston  Opera  Company.  He  is  also  honorary  director  of  the  Royal 
Opera,  Covent  Garden,  London,  and  is  equally  well  known  in  French 
operatic  circles.  As  a  matter  of  fact.  Otto  H.  Kahn  is  the  foremost 
figure  of  the  world  in  grand  opera,  known  in  Europe  as  well  as  in 
America  for  his  understanding  and  appreciation  of  all  art  and  his 
helpfulness  to  art  and  artists. 

I  asked  Mr.  Kahn  what  advice  he  had  to  offer  to  ambitious  young 
men. 

"Think,''  he  flashed  back.  "The  young  man  who  applies  himself 
seriously  to  thinking  will  by  and  by  be  amazed  to  find  how  much 
there  is  to  think  about.  He  should  never  be  content  simply  to  take 
things  as  they  are.  Nor  should  he  be  satisfied  with  the  accomplishing 
of  one  task,  no  matter  how  worthy  or  important,  but  should  continue 
thinking  and  thinking  and  he  will  find  many  channels  opening  up  for 
his  activities. 

"Doing — acting— is  the  second  stage.     Sufficient  depth  and  com- 


222  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

prehensiveness  of  thought  leads  to  a  corresponding  depth,  degree,  and 
quality  of  action. 

"The  young  men — and  their  elders — in  this  country  now  have  an 
opportunity  such  as  has  come  to  no  other  nation  since  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  when  England  rose  to  conspicuous  greatness. 
It  is  preeminently  a  time  for  fundamental  thinking  and  wise,  broad- 
gauge  action  on  the  part  alike  of  statesmen,  business  men,  labour, 
and  every  other  element  of  the  nation.  Every  great  privilege  carries 
with  it  a  corresponding  duty  and  obligation.  In  the  present  emer- 
gency, we  mustfirstof  all  clarify ourcollective  mind  by  serious  thought 
and  study." 

Several  years  ago,  a  little  weary  of  the  drudgery  of  business  and  of 
the  tremendous  stress  and  strain  of  his  activities  in  America,  and 
tempted  by  the  vision  of  a  quieter  and  more  settled  life,  Mr.  Kahn 
planned  to  return  and  enter  British  public  life.  He  was  cordially 
welcomed  and  was  duly  accepted  as  a  parliamentary  candidate.  It 
was  characteristic  of  him  that  he  chose  for  his  constituency  a  district 
almost  wholly  populated  by  working  people.  Not  very  long  after, 
however,  the  cables  brought  the  news  that  Mr.  Kahn  had  abandoned 
his  political  ambitions  and  had  decided  to  return  to  America. 

"I  discovered,"  Mr.  Kahn  told  me,  "that  my  roots  had  gone  too 
deeply  into  American  soil  ever  to  be  transplanted.  The  microbe  of 
America  had  entered  my  blood  and  could  not  be  dislodged.  I  found 
I  had  been  mistaken  in  thinking  that  I  could  forsake  America  for 
England.  A  little  taste  of  a  life  of  leisure  there  convinced  me  that  I 
wanted  to  and  was  bound  to  return  to  the  strenuous  life  I  lead  here, 
to  my  work  and  associates,  my  duties,  responsibilities,  and  aspirations 
and  do  what  little  might  be  in  my  power  to  aid  in  constructive  develop- 
ment, both  in  a  financial  and  a  cultural  way.  Work  is  infinitely 
preferable  to  loafing." 

Having  reached  the  final  conclusion  that  his  place  and  his  heart 
were  in  America,  Mr.  Kahn  became  an  American  citizen. 

The  palatial,  historic  home,  St.  Dunstan's,  which  Mr.  Kahn  ac- 
quired from  the  Earl  of  Londesborough,  in  1913,  when  he  had  visions 
of  settling  there,  was  turned  over  by  him,  when  the  war  broke  out, 
as  a  hospital  and  home  for  blinded  soldiers  and  is  still  in  use  for  that 
purpose.  Mr.  Kahn,  of  course,  was  from  the  start  intensely  pro-Ally. 
But,  also  of  course,  he  is  not  against  the  German  people  at  large. 
He  considers  this  war  not  as  a  mere  conflict  between  nations  in  which 
the  call  of  blood  or  race  or  former  affiliations  and  relations  may  be 
heeded,  but  as  a  fundamental  conflict  between  civilization,  govern- 
mental methods,  ideals  and  ethical  conceptions.  His  eldest  daughter 
— he  has  two  daughters  and  two  sons — was  for  some  time  a  Red  Cross 
nurse  in  France. 


OTTO  H.  KAHN  223 

Notwithstanding  all  that  he  does  for  art  and  artists,  Mr.  Kahn 
takes  an  active  interest  in  a  number  of  other  worthy  institutions, 
including  the  Boys'  Club  at  Avenue  A  and  loth  Street,  New  York 
City,  founded  by  the  late  Mr.  Harriman,  and  the  Neurological  In- 
stitute, which  Mr.  Kahn  helped  to  establish  to  study  and  seek  a  cure 
for  that  characteristic  American  malady,  nervousness  born  of  the 
strenuous  life. 

When  he  cannot  find  anything  big  to  do  in  finance  or  in  art,  Mr. 
Kahn  manages  to  fill  in  the  time  driving  a  four-in-hand,  riding,  auto- 
ing,  golfing,  sailing,  playing  the  violin  or 'cello  (of  which  he  is  a  master) 
or  reading — he  makes  it  an  inviolable  rule  to  read  for  one  hour  every 
night  before  going  to  bed,  no  matter  how  late  the  hour.  His  wide 
reading,  extensive  knowledge,  and  diversified  experiences  have  enabled 
him  to  come  to  the  front  lately  in  authorship. 

One  of  his  most  notable  contributions  to  the  discussion  of  public 
questions  was  made  at  the  annual  dinner  of  the  Association  of  Stock 
Exchange  Brokers  in  January,  1917.  "The  New  York  Stock  Ex- 
change and  Public  Opinion"  was  the  title  of  his  address  and  it  con- 
tained so  much  sane  thought  that  the  Stock  Exchange  authorities 
published  it  in  pamphlet  form  and  it  reached  a  circulation  rivalling 
that  of  the  "best  sellers."  Among  the  points  Mr.  Kahn  covered 
were:  Should  the  Exchange  Be  Regulated?  Is  the  Exchange  Merely 
a  Private  Institution?  Short  Selling — Is  It  Justifiable?  Does  the 
Public  Get  "Fleeced"?  Do  "Big  Men"  Put  the  Market  Up  or 
Down?     The  Responsibility  of  Members  of  the  Exchange. 

Another  article  by  Mr.  Kahn  on  "Some  Comments  on  War 
Taxation,"  originally  written  before  the  first  draft  of  the  war  tax  bill 
was  laid  before  Congress  in  the  spring  of  191 7,  also  excited  wide- 
spread interest  because  of  its  breadth  of  view,  its  concrete  constructive 
suggestions,  and  its  patriotism — he  advocated,  for  example,  a  high 
tax  on  all  excess  profits  over  the  pre-war  average,  saying:  "It  is  abso- 
lutely right  that  no  man,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  prevent  it,  shall 
make  money  out  of  a  war  in  which  his  country  is  engaged."  Mr. 
Kahn  also  "did  his  bit"  in  arousing  the  country  to  the  need  for  sub- 
scribing liberally  to  the  Liberty  Bonds. 


MINOR  C.  KEITH 

ONE  American  could  have  a  crown  for  the  asking.  He  is  the 
uncrowned  king  of  the  tropics,  the  Cecil  Rhodes  of  Central 
America,  a  demigod  in  the  eyes  of  half  a  dozen  republics. 

He  sits  daily  in  an  unpretentious  office  at  Battery  Place,  New 
York,  a  silent  Hercules  transforming  the  American  tropics  from  a  jun- 
gle to  a  fruit  garden ;  creating  prosperity,  health,  and  peace  where  only 
poverty,  disease,  and  revolutions  formerly  luxuriated;  steel-rail  linking 
Central  American  republics  to  one  another  as  a  necessary  preliminary 
to  their  union  into  one  powerful  commonwealth;  and  plodding,  also, 
to  make  it  possible  to  travel  from  New  York,  Chicago,  or  San  Fran- 
cisco all  the  way  by  rail  to  Panama  or  even  to  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

"When  Mistah  Keith  comes  here  de  country  has  a  holiday.  You 
can't  get  within  blocks  of  de  station.  He  is  de  greatest  man  ever 
live — an'  de  best-hearted.     De  poor  know  dat." 

That  was  the  tribute  paid  Minor  C.  Keith  by  a  coloured  waiter  in 
the  San  Jose  Hotel  in  Costa  Rica's  capital  when  I  mentioned  the  great 
civilizer's  name. 

Minor  C.  Keith  was  a  Brooklyn  lad  who,  at  sixteen,  started  in  a 
men's  furnishing  store  on  Broadway,  New  York,  at  $3  a  week;  didn't 
care  for  selling  collars,  socks,  and  neckties;  and  quit  in  six  months  to 
become  a  lumber  surveyor.  He  made  ^$3,000  in  the  first  year  and 
then  went  into  the  lumber  business  on  his  own  account,  his  father 
having  been  in  that  industry. 

Before  old  enough  to  vote  he  was  raising  cattle  and  hogs  on  a 
bleak,  uninhabited  island  called  Padre  Island  (as  long  as  Long  Island) 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Grande.  He  had  looked  over  the  country 
after  the  Civil  War  and  decided  to  settle  on  this  forsaken  territory. 
Only  one  other  family  lived  on  the  island. 

Here  young  Keith  trained  for  the  battle  of  life,  under  rough,  nerve- 
trying  circumstances,  with  two  revolvers  never  unhitched  from  his 
belt  and  with  cattle-thieves  and  other  care-free  gentlemen  all  about 
him  when  he  crossed  to  Texas  and  the  Mexican  border  to  buy  cattle. 
He  rose  at  four  every  morning,  roughed  it  for  sixteen  hours  daily, 
often  slept  outside — and  prospered. 

He  reared  and  bought  cattle  all  over  the  surrounding  territory  to 
kill  for  their  hide  and  tallow.  The  beef,  not  worth  anj'thing  in  Texas 
in  those  days,  was  fed  to  swine!     He  amassed  a  herd  of  4,000  stock 

224 


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MINOR  C.  KEITH 


MINOR  C.  KEITH  225 

cattle  and  2,000  pigs.  Stock  cattle  were  then  worth  ^2.50  to  ^3.00 
and  steers  brought  $1.00  for  each  year  of  their  age.  (To-day,  alas! 
we  city  folk  pay  35  cents  a  pound  or  more  for  the  choicest  parts  of 
such  steers!) 

Once  a  hurricane  blew  fully  a  thousand  cattle  over  the  edge  of 
the  island  into  the  sea.  They  swam  to  the  mainland,  five  miles  dis- 
tant. After  the  hurricane  they  were  rounded  up  and  driven  back 
across  the  shallowest  part,  where  the  water  ordinarily  reached  the 
pommel  of  the  cowboy's  saddle.  A  count  revealed  that  not  more 
than  a  dozen  had  been  drowned. 

Then  something  happened  to  change  the  course  of  Keith's  career. 
His  uncle,  Henry  Meiggs,  was  the  famous  builder  of  the  first  railway 
over  the  Andes  and  of  other  epochal  South  American  lines.  Minor's 
eldest  brother,  Henry  Meiggs  Keith,  had  joined  his  uncle  in  Peru  and 
had  taken  over  a  contract  from  his  uncle  to  build  a  railroad  in  Costa 
Rica  for  the  Government.  One  day,  in  1871,  Minor  received  a  letter 
from  his  brother  asking  him  to  come  to  Costa  Rica. 

"He  told  me,"  said  Mr.  Keith,  "that  I  would  make  more  money 
in  Costa  Rica  in  three  years  than  I  could  make  in  Texas  all  my  life. 
Perhaps  there  was  a  railroad  tinge  in  the  family  blood.     I  went." 

Little  did  he  dream  that  his  migration  was  destined  to  shape  Cen- 
tral American  history. 

The  whole  Atlantic  Coast  from  Mexico  to  Panama  was  then  a  dense, 
unexplored,  formidable  jungle,  with  only  a  few  Caribs  and  Creoles 
here  and  there  who  eked  out  an  existence  by  fishing  for  hawksbill 
turtle,  gathering  sarsaparilla,  vanilla  beans,  and  wild  rubber.  There 
was  no  steamship  service  to  any  port  in  Central  America  on  the 
Atlantic  side. 

Minor's  job  was  to  run  the  commissariat  of  the  railway.  His 
brother  subsequently  died  and  the  constriction  of  the  railway  was 
suspended  through  the  Government  not  being  able  to  supply  the 
money.  In  order  to  carry  out  his  brother's  undertaking  he  re- 
contracted  the  coast  line  of  the  railway  with  the  Government.  Also, 
to  make  possible  the  building  of  the  mountain  section  for  which  the 
Government  had  not  the  needful  $6,000,000,  he  made  a  contract  with 
the  Costa  Rican  Government  to  settle  their  external  debt  which  had 
been  defaulted  for  thirteen  years.  He  proceeded  to  London  and  after 
many  difficulties  arranged  a  settlement  of  the  debt  and  all  arrears  of 
interest,  and  obtained  $6,000,000  for  the  construction  of  the  railway. 

Before  the  railroad  was  begun  the  journey  from  San  Jose  down  to 
the  coast,  about  100  miles,  took,  during  bad  weather,  about  two 
weeks'  trudging  through  woods,  bogs,  and  jungles  infested  with  reptiles. 
The  Costa  Ricans  had  a  saying:  "The  man  who  makes  the  journey 
once  is  a  hero;  the  one  who  makes  it  twice  is  a  fool.'* 


226  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Puerto  Limon  was  the  name  given  the  coastal  starting-point  of  the 
railroad.  Not  one  house  marked  the  spot.  Not  one  pound  of  fresh 
beef  was  to  be  had,  not  a  single  fresh  vegetable,  not  an  ounce  of  ice 
to  combat  the  satanlc  heat.  All  was  jungle,  snakes,  scorpions, 
monkeys,  mosquitoes. 

The  construction  of  the  railway  on  the  coast  commenced  In  a  jungle 
and  ended  In  a  jungle,  which  was  entirely  devoid  of  population. 
Many  of  the  rivers  had  no  name.  Subsistence  for  two  or  three  years 
was  principally  on  salt  codfish  and  a  sprinkling  of  canned  goods. 

The  surveying  over,  the  real  troubles  began.  Labour  could  not  be 
enticed  to  such  a  graveyard.  The  natives  abjured  the  fever-soaked 
coast  as  they  would  a  plague. 

But  Minor  C.  Keith  had  undertaken  to  build  this  railroad  for  the 
Costa  Rlcan  Government  and  he  meant  to  do  It. 

Off  he  went  to  New  Orleans  and  began  engaging  labourers — cut- 
throats, robbers,  thieves,  and  other  rlfF-raff.  He  rounded  up  700  of 
them.  The  Police  Commissioner  warned  Keith  that  his  collection 
was  more  dangerous  than  dynamite. 

Such  was  the  cargo  of  the  first  steamer  in  history  to  sail  from  New 
Orleans  for  Central  American  Atlantic  ports,  the  Juan  G.  Meiggs, 
owned  by  the  Keiths.     The  voyage  was  eventful. 

The  boat  struck  a  coral  reef  north  of  Belize,  Honduras,  and  began 
to  pound — pound — pound  upon  the  jagged  rocks.  The  captain  lost 
his  head — the  pandemonium  was  terrific.  A  barrel  of  liquor  fell  Into 
the  hands  of  the  700  ruffians  and  scores  of  them  promptly  got  drunk! 
Then  they  mutinied  and  became  threatening.  But  Keith  was  not 
white-livered.  He  armed  his  foremen.  Issued  peremptory  orders  and 
succeeded  In  cowing  the  700. 

The  ship  finally  backed  off.  Port  LIm5n  was  eventually  reached  and 
the  men  set  to  work,  at  a  dollar  a  day.  Of  the  700  not  more  than 
twenty-five  ever  returned.     The  deadly  jungle  claimed  the  rest. 

Subsequently  De  Lesseps  was  struggling  to  cut  the  Panama  Canal 
and  labour  was  not  to  be  had,  as  the  higher  wages,  paid  In  Panama 
enticed  the  labourers  away.  Yet  Keith  would  not  give  In,  although 
hundreds  died  around  him,  including  first  one  and  then  another  of  his 
own  brothers.  Fever  also  overtook  him  often,  but  he  fought  on — 
fought  and  planned. 

On  account  of  the  difficulty  in  obtaining  labour  2,000  labourers 
were  brought  from  Italy.  At  the  cost  of  $200,000  for  transportation, 
food,  and  drink  acceptable  to  the  Italians,  wages,  etc.,  he  brought 
them — and  fondly  Imagined  he  had  solved  his  labour  problem.  Alas! 
blackhand  letters  quickly  began  to  bombard  him;  disease — of  course 
— broke  out,  and  the  digging  of  so  many  graves  unnerved  the  whole 
squad. 


MINOR  C.  KEITH  227 

One  night  the  entire  gang  disappeared  into  the  woods!  And  the 
first  thing  Keith  knew,  a  ship  sailed  along  and  took  away  the  last 
man  of  them  to  Italy!     Their  leaders  had  slyly  chartered  the  vessel. 

What  was  the  cost  in  life  of  the  first  twenty-five  miles  of  that  Costa 
Rican  line? 

Four  thousand  lives,  including  three  of  Minor's  own  brothers.  Yet 
the  average  working  force  was  only  1,500. 

Civilization  was  advancing  through  blood  and  bleached  bones. 

Another  tragedy  happened.  The  Government  ran  short  of  money. 
It  could  not  pay  the  monthly  estimates  except  by  notes.  The 
enterprise  on  which  the  country  had  set  its  heart  would  have  to  be 
abandoned. 

Costa  Rica  did  not  know  Minor  C.  Keith  as  well  then  as  it  does  to- 
day. He  determined  to  spend  his  own  last  cent  in  prosecuting  the 
work.  But  the  financial  panic  of  1873,  as  bad  as  any  in  American 
history,  upset  all  calculations,  and  his  resources  gave  out. 

Even  then  he  did  not  succumb. 

He  had  in  his  employ  about  1,500  Jamaican  Negroes.  Summoning 
them,  he  explained  the  circumstances  and  offered  to  repatriate  those 
who  were  sick  or  who  wanted  to  go  home.  Such  was  their  faith  in 
"Mistah  Keith"  that  a  decision  to  stand  by  him  was  carried  by 
acclamation.  For  nine  months  those  1,500  black  men  worked  loyally 
for  Minor  C.  Keith  without  a  pay-day. 

"That  incident  gives  me  as  much  satisfaction  as  any  in  my  whole 
life,"  Mr.  Keith  admitted.  "I  pensioned  many  of  the  Jamaicans 
who  had  worked  with  me  and  had  risked  their  life  with  me  times  with- 
out number." 

When  the  financial  skies  cleared  and  the  Costa  Rican  Government 
was  in  funds,  the  full  nine  months'  wages  were  paid,  and  the  Govern- 
ment paid  all  its  obligations  to  Keith,  including  his  large  losses 
caused  by  the  want  of  funds. 

But  fever,  reptiles,  labour,  and  money  were  not  the  only  things  the 
pioneer  railroad-builders  had  to  contend  with.  In  Costa  Rica  when 
it  rains  it  rains.  Port  Limon  had  a  fall  of  over  20  feet — 250  inches — 
in  one  year.     The  rivers  became  leaping  torrents. 

Washout  after  washout  occurred.  Temporary  bridges  were  swept 
away  time  after  time  until  permanent  steel  structures  were  erected. 
One,  on  the  Matina  River,  was  destroyed  thirty-one  times! 

"The  narrowest  escape  I  ever  had  was  on  that  bridge  after  the 
permanent  one  was  erected,"  Mr.  Keith  remarked  reminiscently. 
"I've  had  so  many  close  shaves  that  I've  forgotten  about  most  of 
them.  I've  been  shipwrecked  three  times,  been  upset  in  the  surf 
and  rivers  many  times,  had  tropical  fevers  of  all  varieties,  and  encoun- 
tered all  kinds  of  difficulties.     But  that  day  sticks  in  my  mind! 


228  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"My  superintendent  wired  me  to  come  and  inspect  the  bridge  at 
Matina  River.  Wlien  I  got  there  the  river  had  risen  twenty-five 
feet.  The  superintendent  and  a  mason  were  standing  on  the  bridge 
and  a  wliite  man  and  four  Negroes  were  working  on  it.  I  saw  that 
the  only  thing  that  was  supporting  the  cyHnders  (on  which  the  bridge 
rested)  was  a  steel  cable  they  had  fastened  to  a  tree  on  the  shore. 
Before  I  could  order  all  hands  off  the  cable  snapped  and  the  structure 
collapsed. 

"I  made  one  desperate  leap  toward  the  shore  span,  the  base  of 
which  rested  on  an  offset  of  the  cylinder.  This  span  did  not  collapse, 
but  stood  out  over  the  river  like  a  bracket.  I  caught  the  end  of  a 
tie  with  my  left  hand  and  gripped  it  as  I  had  never  gripped  anything 
before.  I  was  athletic  and  didn't  slip.  But  I  didn't  hang  there  over 
that  boiling  torrent  very  long!  The  superintendent  and  the  mason 
saved  themselves  somehow,  but  the  other  five  were  pitched  into  the 
river  and  drowned." 

In  the  midst  of  his  arduous  railroad  building  the  pioneer  conceived 
other  projects. 

This  jungle  road  had  no  traffic,  nor  would  it  have  any  until  it 
reached  the  5,000-feet  mountain-tops.  But  he  leased  the  uninviting 
coast  road  from  the  Government.  Shortly  after  landing  he  had 
brought  a  few  banana  plants  from  Colon,  and  the  Jtiati  G.  Meiggs 
took  250  bunches  to  New  Orleans  from  Colon  on  her  first  voyage,  these 
being  the  first  bananas  taken  by  steamship  to  the  New  Orleans  mar- 
ket. Year  in,  year  out  he  expanded  his  banana  plantations,  and 
the  hauling  of  the  fruit  kept  his  road  busy.  In  191 5  over  7,000,000 
bunches  of  bananas — say,  1,000,000,000  bananas,  or  ten  for  every 
man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  United  States — were  shipped  from  Port 
Limon !  Mr.  Keith  also  built  up  large  interests  in  Panama,  Colombia, 
and  Nicaragua. 

Ever  on  the  alert  for  opportunities,  he  early  set  up  as  a  storekeeper. 
Commissaries  in  Costa  Rica  were  followed,  in  1873,  with  a  store  in 
Bluefields,  Nicaragua,  the  first  there,  and  various  other  points  on  the 
Central  American  coast  as  far  north  as  Belize,  Honduras,  for  the  pur- 
chase of  rubber,  sarsaparilla,  and  tortoise  shell. 

His  experience  in  growing  bananas,  his  knowledge  of  soil  and  jungle, 
his  familiarity  wnth  transportation  by  water  and  land,  his  ability  to 
attract  and  satisfy  Jamaican  labour,  his  reputation  for  trustworthi- 
ness, his  adamantine  physique,  his  irrepressible  energy,  his  un- 
conquerable will — all  these  qualities  contributed  to  his  success. 

He  became  the  largest  grower  of  bananas  in  Central  America.  His 
shipping  facilities  developed  apace.  His  store  and  commissary  opera- 
tions alone  ran  into  millions  of  dollars.  And  he  finished  his  Costa 
Rican  railroad  after  seventeen  years'  building. 


MINOR  C.  KEITH  229 

All  this  brought  him  wealth. 

Then  disaster  came. 

His  United  States  agents,  to  whom  he  consigned  all  his  bananas, 
failed.  Over  $1,500,000  paper  bearing  his  name  and  drawn  upon  this 
firm  was  outstanding, 

Keith  had  saved  Costa  Rica.  Costa  Rica,  to  its  eternal  credit, 
sprang  to  save  Keith.  Within  a  few  days  $1,200,000  was  offered  to 
him  by  the  Government,  the  Costa  Rican  banks  and  individuals.  In 
two  weeks  he  reached  New  York  and  met  every  dollar  of  his  debts. 

Without  delay  he  had  to  find  new  distributing  agents  for  his  bana- 
nas as  his  whole  international  machinery  was  out  of  gear. 

Andrew  W.  Preston  was  then  the  greatest  factor  in  the  banana 
industry  in  New  England  and  the  North,  just  as  Mr.  Keith  was  in 
the  South.  The  Preston  fruit  came  from  Jamaica,  Cuba,  and  San 
Domingo  and  did  not  compete  in  the  Southern  markets. 

The  two  giants  joined  forces.  They  formed  the  United  Fruit  Com- 
pany, destined  to  become  the  greatest  single  force  in  developing  Cen- 
tral America,  in  bringing  the  United  States  into  commercial  and  social 
touch  with  her  Latin  neighbours,  in  conquering  the  tropics — and  in 
keeping  down  the  cost  of  living  in  this  country. 

Mr.  Keith's  fruit  properties  were  valued  at  over  $4,000,000  on 
going  into  the  United.  His  hardships  had  not  been  suffered  in 
vain! 

The  record  of  the  Preston-Keith  enterprise — embracing  Cuba, 
Jamaica,  Colombia,  Panama,  Guatemala,  Costa  Rica,  Nicaragua, 
Salvador,  and  the  Canary  Islands- — forms  one  of  America's  most  ro- 
mantic commercial  chapters.  The  United  Fruit  Company  has  spent 
over  $200,000,000  in  cultivating  the  tropics;  it  gives  employment  to 
60,000  men  at  wages  several  times  the  rate  they  formerly  received; 
it  has  built  and  operates  over  1,000  miles  of  railway  and  tramways; 
it  has  spent  millions  of  dollars  in  fighting  fever  and  in  building  hospit- 
als. Its  "Great  White  Fleet"  constitutes  the  best  and  largest  array 
of  ships  America  can  boast — some  forty-five  steamers  are  owned 
outright  and  nearly  as  many  more  are  under  long  charter.  The 
United  has  knit  together  every  republic  and  every  island  in  the  tropics 
by  its  huge  wireless  stations.  It  has  built  many  lighthouses  on  the 
coast  of  Central  America. 

It  is  the  biggest  farmer,  and  almost  the  biggest  grocer,  on  earth. 
It  owns  upward  of  1,200,000  acres,  equal  to  half  the  State  of  Delaware. 
Over  250,000  acres  are  actually  under  cultivation.  Its  livestock 
includes  20,000  cattle  and  6,000  horses  and  mules! 

Its  tropical  plantations  and  equipment  are  valued  at  over 
$50,000,000  and  its  steamships  at  $17,000,000.  Its  total  assets  foot 
up  to  $90,000,000. 


230  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

But  Keith  is  first,  last,  and  all  the  time  a  railroad  builder.  His 
heart  is  in  that.     Two  steel  rails  run  through  all  his  dreams. 

Like  Cecil  Rhodes,  the  far-seeing  founder  of  the  Cape-to-Cairo 
railroad,  Minor  C.  Keith  "thinks  in  continents."  Also  like  Cecil 
Rhodes,  he  has  conceived  an  international  railroad  that  stirs  the 
imagination,  a  railroad,  as  already  told,  that  will  join  North  America's 
transportation  system  with  that  of  Central  America  and  later  with 
South  America,  a  steel  highway  that  one  day  may  run  from  one  end 
of  the  New  World  to  the  other.  The  advance  of  civilization,  the 
welding  of  peoples  together,  the  abolition  of  racial  misunderstanding 
— these  are  the  inspiring  aims  and  end  sought. 

To  dream  and  not  do,  avails  little.  Keith  has  laboured  with  un- 
believable success  to  make  his  dream  come  true. 

The  International  Railways  of  Central  America — the  "Pan- 
American  Railway" — is  not  a  mere  paper  railroad.  Half  of  it  is  al- 
ready built.  Connection  has  been  made,  on  the  Pacific  side,  with 
the  National  Railways  of  Mexico,  at  the  Guatemala  boundary.  The 
road  runs  down  the  Guatemala  coast  and  then  cuts  clear  across  the 
continent,  to  Puerto  Barrios,  on  the  Atlantic  side;  this  transconti- 
nental line  is  now  in  profitable  operation.  From  mid-continent  the 
line  is  being  built  straight  through  the  little  republic  of  Salvador  to 
La  Union,  on  the  Pacific.  Next  it  will  pass  through  Honduras  and 
join  the  Nicaraguan  road.  The  Costa  Rica  system  will  then  be 
reached,  and  from  Port  Limon  to  the  Panama  Canal  will  be  the  final 
Hnk  on  the  northern  side  of  the  "great  divide."  The  South  American 
extension,  Mr.  Keith  is  confident,  will  follow. 

Some  600  miles  of  the  International  Railways  are  actually  operat- 
ing— and  making  money.  And  the  daring  project  is  daily  creeping 
toward  completion. 

"I  have  heard,  Mr.  Keith,  that  you  hope  to  bring  about  the  union 
of  the  five  Central  American  republics — Guatemala,  Salvador,  Ni- 
caragua, Costa  Rica,  and  Panama.  Is  that  your  ambition?"  I  asked. 
He  gazed  into  space.     Then: 

"I  believe  that  will  come.  It  will  be  a  great  thing  for  them  all. 
But  only  railroads  can  bring  it  about.  The  people  of  Costa  Rica 
are  still  strangers  to  the  people  of  Nicaragua  although  their  countries 
adjoin.  There  must  first  be  commercial  and  social  intercourse.  The 
railroad  will  make  that  possible." 

When  you  travel  in  Central  America  you  learn  that  Minor  C.  Keith 
can  have  anything  he  wants  because  the  people  regard  him  as  their 
biggest  frie7id,  their  "father"  their  leader,  one  of  themselves.  Mr.  Keith 
married  the  daughter  of  one  of  Costa  Rica's  early  presidents,  Jose 
Maria  Castro,  lived  there  continuously  for  twenty-seven  years,  spent 
millions  in  relieving  disease  in  the  tropics,  and  feels  in  a  sense  respon- 


MINOR  C.  KEITH  231 

sible  for  the  welfare  of  these  undeveloped  little  nations.  Not  once  has 
he  or  his  companies  had  the  slightest  rupture  with  any  Latin  govern- 
ment. 

So  if  Keith  by  and  by  decides  that  the  time  is  ripe  for  the  creation 
of  a  Central  American  Commonwealth  the  chances  are  that  it  will 
be  established. 


DARWIN  P.  KINGSLEY 

HERE  is  a  New  England  idyl.  From  such  rustic  scenes  and 
surroundings,  from  such  rocky  soil  have  sprung  many  of  the 
men  whose  names  are  writ  large  in  the  annals  of  American 
achievement. 

The  speaker  in  this  instance  is  Darwin  P.  Kingsley,  president  of  the 
New  York  Life  Insurance  Company  with  ^2,500,000,000  insurance  in 
force  and  assets  of  $900,000,000,  a  figure  not  approached  by  any 
other  insurance  company  in  the  world: 

**0n  the  40-acre  farm,  in  Vermont,  where  I  was  born,  everything 
we  wore  and  everything  we  ate  was  grown  on  the  farm,  except  a  little 
sugar  once  in  a  while  in  place  of  the  maple  sugar,  which  was  indige- 
nous, and  a  little  tea.  From  a  dozen  sheep  came  wool  which  was  first 
spun  and  then  woven  by  hand  into  winter  clothing.  Our  garden 
supplied  flax  which  was  made  into  summer  garments.  Even  the 
thread  we  used  was  manufactured  in  our  home.  The  sound  of  the 
spinning  and  flax  wheels  was  rarely  silent  from  morning  till  night, 
for  five  children,  in  addition  to  our  parents,  had  to  be  clothed.  What 
we  called  coffee  was  made  from  parched  wheat  or  corn.  I  well  re- 
member the  first  time  my  father  took  his  wool  and  swapped  it  for 
fulled  cloth.  We  all  regarded  that  as  an  epochal  advance  into  a 
higher  state  of  civilization. 

"At  Alburg,  where  I  was  born,  there  were  not  then  (1857)  enough 
houses  to  form  even  a  hamlet.  In  the  summer  I  attended  the  old 
'deestrict'  school,  a  primitive  aff^air,  innocent  of  any  suggestion  of 
higher  education.  In  our  home  were  very  few  books.  Life  there  was 
clean  through  and  through,  self-respecting,  and  full  of  moral  and 
religious  discipline.  But  it  was  extremely  narrow,  uninspiring,  and 
unimaginative.  There  was  little  or  nothing  to  fire  a  boy  with  ambi- 
tion or  enthusiasm  or  to  acquaint  him  with  the  world  that  lay  beyond 
his  'cabined,  cribbed  and  confined'  sphere.  At  first  I  had  no  larger 
vision  than  any  of  the  other  folk  there. 

"But  one  day  something  happened.  It  was  only  a  little  talk  with 
our  family  doctor,  yet  it  changed  the  whole  course  of  my  life.  He  said 
to  me,  'You  ought  to  go  to  school.'  I  told  him  I  was  going  to  school. 
He  said,  *0h,  yes;  but  I  mean  you  ought  to  go  on  and  study  Latin.' 
I  asked  him,  'What  is  Latin.?'  He  told  me:  'You  cannot  understand 
your  own  language  unless  you  know  Latin.     What  does  subtraction 

232 


DARWIN  P.  KTNCSLEY 


DARWIN  P.  KINGSLEY  233 

mean?  What  does  it  come  from?'  I  told  him  it  meant  just  sub- 
traction. Then  he  explained  to  me  that  the  word  came  from  two 
Latin  words,  sub  meaning  'from'  and  trahere,  meaning  *to  draw' — to 
draw  from  under. 

"A  whole  new  world  flashed  into  my  vision  at  that  instant.  There 
was  a  world,  I  realized,  that  I  had  known  nothing  about.  This 
glimpse  of  it  made  me  resolve  there  and  then  that  I  would  study  hard 
and  learn  all  about  it.  Before  I  was  twelve  I  had  finished  Greenleaf's 
Common  School  Arithmetic,  but  though  the  little  school  had  nothing 
much  beyond  that  to  offer  I  continued  to  work  on  the  farm  in  summer 
and  to  go  to  school  in  winter  until  I  was  seventeen.  I  was  sent  to 
Swanton  Academy  for  one  winter  term  and  to  Barre  (Vt.)  Academy 
for  one  spring  term.  Dr.  J.  S.  Spaulding,  head  of  the  academy,  was  a 
very  noted  man,  and  under  his  guidance  I  became  determined  not  to 
quit  school,  as  had  been  intended,  but  to  work  my  way  through 
both  academy  and  college. 

"  Between  terms  I  worked  as  a  day  labourer  in  the  fields,  swinging  a 
scythe  all  day  or  tilling  the  fields.  I  got  through  the  academy  before 
I  was  twenty,  and  without  knowing  where  the  money  was  to  come 
from,  I  went  to  the  University  of  Vermont,  at  Burlington,  and  took 
the  entrance  examination.     This  was  in  the  spring. 

"During  the  summer  I  saved  $45  working  on  a  farm,  and  the  farmer 
agreed  to  lend  me  additional  money  to  go  to  college  if  I  could  give  him 
security  in  case  I  died — he  was  not  afraid  of  his  money  if  I  lived.  Dr. 
Spaulding  was  an  ardent  believer  in  life  insurance  and  used  to  im- 
press upon  his  students  the  many  advantages  of  a  good  policy,  em- 
phasizing, among  other  things,  that  it  could  be  used  on  occasion  as 
security.  I  took  out  ^1,000,  in  the  Metropolitan  Life,  although  the 
cost,  $20  a  year,  was  a  tremendous  drain  upon  my  resources.  I 
handed  the  policy  to  my  farmer  benefactor.  This  incident,  doubtless, 
is  responsible  for  my  being  president  of  the  New  York  Life  In- 
surance Company  to-day. 

"OflF  I  went  to  Burlington,  some  forty  miles  from  home.  My  ex- 
penses for  the  first  year  at  college  totalled  exactly  ^165.  How  could 
I  live  on  that?  Well,  my  mother  used  to  send  a  roast  turkey  and  a 
few  other  things  that  would  keep.  I  lived  chiefly  on  boiled  potatoes, 
bread,  and  milk.  After  a  while,  even  though  I  had  had  my  fill  of 
boiled  potatoes,  I  felt  ravenously  hungry  for  some  kind  of  meat.  I 
fought  against  this  gnawing  appetite  as  long  as  I  could,  but  succumbed 
one  day  and  bought  a  little  box  of  chipped  beef.  I  reasoned  that  by 
nibbling  at  it  I  could  drive  away  this  hunger  for  quite  a  few  days. 
The  moment  I  got  out  of  the  store  I  opened  the  box  to  have  just  a  tiny 
slice,  but  the  instant  I  got  a  taste  of  the  meat  I  devoured  it,  to  the  last 
scrap,  right  there  on  the  street. 


234  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"I  paid  all  my  college  bills  by  ringing  the  college  bell  seven  times  a 
day,  calling  the  chapel  and  all  the  classes.  If  I  rang  that  bell  five 
seconds  ahead  of  time  I  got  'Jessy'  from  the  boys,  and  if  I  was  a  second 
late  the  professors  jumped  on  me.  This  drilling  in  punctuality  was 
one  of  the  best  things  I  derived  from  my  college  course.  I  don't 
think  I  have  ever  been  late  in  my  life  since." 

The  day  labourer,  bell-ringer,  and  semi-starved  youth  became  the 
prize  orator  of  the  University,  a  Phi  Beta  Kappa  man,  and  a  notable 
scholar  in  Greek,  Latin,  and  mathematics.  His  struggles  did  not  end 
with  the  winning  of  his  A.B.  degree,  however.  Hard  as  the  climbing 
of  the  hill  of  learning  had  been,  a  still  rougher  road  lay  ahead. 

"What  was  your  ambition  on  finishing  college?"  I  asked  Mr. 
Kingsley. 

"The  height  of  my  ambition  was  to  get  a  position  as  a  teacher  at 
$i,ooo  a  year.  In  my  eye  that  was  the  acme  of  success — and  opu- 
lence. I  had  a  vague  longing  to  become  a  lawyer,  but  as  I  was  in 
debt,  I  felt  I  must  get  to  work  right  away.  At  that  time  almost  every 
ambitious  young  man  had  an  irresistible  desire  to  go  West.  The  cos- 
mic urge  struck  me,  and  I  went  along,  going  first  to  a  sister  who  lived 
on  a  ranch  in  Wyoming.  It  did  not  take  me  long  to  realize,  however, 
that  baling  hay,  tending  cattle,  and  riding  bronchos  would  not  get  me 
very  far  toward  my  goal.     So  off  I  set  for  Cheyenne. 

"There,  in  that  far-off  town,  without  a  friend,  without  work,  and 
possessing  only  $15, 1  became  terribly  homesick  for  the  first  and  last 
time  in  my  life.  I  was  so  bad  that  I  would  go  to  the  station  and  watch 
with  intense  envy  the  brakeman  on  the  rear  end  of  a  train  going  East! 
My  loneliness  almost  drove  me  insane. 

"But  I  had  to  buckle  to  and  find  something  to  do.  I  could  not 
afford  to  sit  and  mope.  An  old  fellow  I  met  in  the  second-rate  hotel 
I  stopped  at  befriended  me  and  put  me  in  the  way  of  starting  to  peddle 
books.  I  tramped  all  over  northern  Colorado  until  I  fell  ill  at  Long- 
mont.  The  kindness  then  shown  me  by  strangers  is  one  of  my 
happiest  memories;  although  I  was  nothing  but  a  travelling  book 
agent,  the  people  took  as  good  care  of  me  as  if  I  had  been  one  of  their 
own  kin. 

"After  I  recovered  I  was  selling  a  book  to  an  old  milkman  who  told 
me  he  hailed  from  Vermont.  We  got  to  chatting,  and  I  told  him  I 
was  going  to  Denver.  'What  are  you  going  to  do  there?'  he  asked. 
*I  don't  know,  but  I  think  that  is  the  best  place  for  me  to  strike,'  I 
replied.  He  finished  by  recommending  me  to  a  lawyer  friend  of  his 
in  Denver,  also  from  the  Green  Mountain  State.  This  lawyer  became 
one  of  my  dearest  friends  and  continued  so  until  the  day  he  died. 
As  it  was  not  feasible  for  me  to  read  law,  I  found  a  position  as  a 
teacher  at  $70  a  month — but  of  this  I  had  to  pay  ^45  every  month  for 


DARWIN  P.  KINGSLEY  235 

my  room  and  board.  I  remained  for  a  year  at  this  circumscribed 
job. 

"The  old  impulse  to  go  West  again  seized  me,  and  as  the  Ute  In- 
dians were  then  being  removed  from  the  valley  of  the  Grand  River, 
preparatory  to  opening  it  up  for  irrigation,  I  migrated  to  Grand 
Junction,  then  a  place  of  tents,  log  huts,  saloons,  dance  halls,  and  other 
characteristics  of  a  rough-and-tumble  frontier  town.  Before  the 
irrigation  scheme  was  completed  no  more  vegetation  grew  in  that 
valley  than  on  Broadway. 

"With  ^500  which  I  managed  to  borrow  from  a  friend  at  Oshkosh, 
I  bought  a  half  interest  in  the  Grand  Junction  NewSy  then  a  struggling 
weekly,  but  now  an  influential  daily.  I  was  then  twenty-six.  But 
being  editor  of  a  frontier-town  paper  was  no  picnic.  Graft  was  rife 
and  I  showed  up  the  grafters.  Things  became  so  lively  that  I  often 
had  an  armed  guard  in  my  room  while  I  slept.  At  one  period  I  never 
went  on  the  street  without  my  hand  clutched  on  a  six-shooter  in  my 
coat  pocket,  ready  for  business." 

"Did  you  have  any  fisticuffs  or  gun  battles?"  I  asked.  Mr. 
Kingsley's  reply  was  evasive.  Finally  I  persuaded  him  to  tell  what 
manifestly  was  in  his  mind. 

"Well,"  he  began,  "I  was  a  Republican,  and  when  the  Democratic 
governor  appointed  a  gang  of  disreputable  carpet-baggers  to  the  local 
offices,  we  wanted  our  own  people.  The  fellow  appointed  County 
Commissioner  was  particularly  objectionable,  and  I  made  fun  of  him 
in  the  paper  over  some  silly  thing  he  did.  My  partner  warned  me 
that  there  would  be  trouble.  Sure  enough,  the  morning  the  paper  ap- 
peared, as  soon  as  I  went  on  the  street,  he  came  straight  toward  me.  I 
was  not  anxious  for  trouble — indeed,  my  aversion  to  street  rows  had 
begun  to  create  an  impression  that  I  was  more  courageous  with  my 
pen  than  with  my  right  arm. 

"White  with  rage,  he  struck  at  me.  I  was  no  boxer,  but  it  dawned 
on  me  that  he  didn't  seem  to  know  much  about  the  game  either;  so  I 
parried  his  blows,  and  when  he  saw  that  he  could  not  get  me  that  way 
he  kicked  me  in  the  stomach  with  his  heavy  ranch  boot.  I  caught 
enough  of  the  blow  to  make  me  mad,  and  I  struck  him  on  the  chin  with 
such  force  that  I  lifted  him  off  his  feet.     He  landed  on  the  sidewalk. 

"After  that  I  had  less  trouble.  The  funniest  immediate  effect  was 
that  a  big  Irishman  who  had  been  anxious  to  lick  the  Commissioner, 
but  didn't  quite  have  the  nerve,  came  to  my  house  that  evening  with 
a  bumper  basket  of  strawberries  and  presented  them  as  a  sort  of 
thank  offering!" 

Shortly  after  that  Mr.  Kingsley  was  named  a  member  of  the  delega- 
tion from  Colorado  to  the  Republican  National  Convention  at  Chica- 
go, and  in  the  following  year,  1886,  he  was  elected  State  Auditor  and 


236  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Superintendent  of  Insurance,  with  headquarters,  of  course,  in  Denver. 
There  he  found  it  necessary  to  go  after  fake  insurance  companies  and 
to  give  insurance  much  study.  Dr.  Spaulding's  preachings  about 
the  value  of  life  insurance  became  very  real  to  him,  and  the  more  he 
studied  insurance  the  more  deeply  convinced  he  became  of  its  value, 
both  to  individuals  and  to  society.  In  short,  he  became  a  whole- 
hearted insurance  convert. 

Therefore,  when  George  W.  Perkins  went  to  Denver  and  offered 
him  the  post  of  Inspector  of  Agencies  for  the  whole  of  the  New  Eng- 
land territory  of  the  New  York  Life,  Mr.  Kingsley  gladly  accepted. 

"I  took  up  my  headquarters  at  Boston  in  the  beginning  of  1889," 
said  Mr.  Kingsley,  "and  remained  there  until  1892.     And  here  I  am." 

That  sounds  very  simple — "And  here  I  am."  But  when  he  came 
he  was  merely  superintendent  of  agents,  whereas  now  he  is  president. 
The  intervening  years  have  been  filled  with  constructive,  aggressive, 
clear-sighted  work.  They  have  covered  the  years  of  trials  and  crises 
for  the  insurance  companies,  years  during  which  the  weak  and  the 
unworthy  have  gone  to  the  wall  and  the  strong  and  worthy  have 
forged  to  the  front. 

It  was,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  first  onslaught  upon  the  New  York 
Life  and  its  president,  William  H.  Beers,  that  was  directly  responsible 
for  Kingsley's  coming  to  headquarters.  Both  Mr.  Perkins  and  he, 
on  being  summoned  to  New  York  at  that  time,  at  once  took  up  the 
cudgels  on  behalf  of  the  company  and  its  head.  Both  could  wield  a 
pointed  pen;  both  could  rally  and  stimulate  despairing  agents;  both 
could  ably  meet  the  newspaper  attacks.  Although  President  Beers 
was  reelected  by  the  board,  he  resigned  rather  than  have  the  com- 
pany's interests  injured,  and  when  John  A.  McCall  was  elected  to  the 
presidency  both  the  young  Western  gladiators  were  promoted. 

Then  when  the  historical  insurance  investigations  of  the  Armstrong 
Committee  began  in  1905,  Darwin  P.  Kingsley  came  to  the  front  as  a 
man  of  unusual  calibre,  unquestioned  character,  and  farsighted  states- 
manship. By  this  time  he  had  mastered  not  only  the  insurance 
business  but  had  cultivated  a  thorough  grasp  of  its  collateral  financial 
and  investment  problems.  After  the  smoke  of  battle  cleared  away 
only  one  man  stood  out  as  conspicuously  fit  for  the  presidency.  When 
Alexander  E.  Orr,  elected  temporarily  to  succeed  Mr.  McCall,  stepped 
out  in  1907,  Mr.  Kingsley,  without  contest  or  question,  was  elevated 
to  the  presidency. 

The  company  had  not  then  a  dollar  invested  in  farm  mortgages,  but 
Mr.  Kingsley's  Western  experiences  had  taught  him  that  here  was  a 
safe  and  profitable  field  for  the  investment  of  insurance  funds.  To- 
day the  company  has  ^30,000,000  out  on  loans  to  farmers,  of  which 
$17,000,000  was  supplied  in  1916,  every  dollar  representing  a  soldier 


DARWIN  P.  KINGSLEY  237 

fighting  against  the  high  cost  of  living  through  facilitating  the  develop- 
ment of  agricultural  production.  Similarly,  Mr.  Kingsley  intro- 
duced the  innovation  of  investing  in  trustworthy  municipal  bonds. 

His  aim,  as  he  impressed  upon  the  whole  force,  was  not  necessarily 
to  have  the  New  York  Life  the  largest  insurance  company  in  the 
world,  but  to  have  it  the  best  and  strongest.  While,  therefore,  its 
$2,500,000,000  insurance  in  force  is  exceeded  by  two  other  companies, 
both  doing  "industrial"  insurance,  no  competitor  can  show,  within 
two  or  three  hundred  million  dollars  as  much  assets.  Of  course,  Mr. 
Kingsley  is  a  believer  in  healthy  growth,  and  the  amendments  which 
have  been  secured  in  the  original  law  limiting  the  amount  of  new 
business  undertaken  have  been  largely  the  result  of  his  exertions  by 
pen  and  speech. 

For  years  the  most  serious  insurance  office  problem  was  the  delay 
and  congestion  occasioned  by  the  necessity  of  keeping  thousands  of 
records  in  very  ponderous  volumes.  While  one  clerk  was  writing 
data  from  one  page  of  the  tome,  scores  of  other  clerks  were  waiting  to 
get  at  other  pages.  No  solution  was  found  until  Mr.  Kingsley  tackled 
it  personally;  he  overcame  the  whole  difficulty  by  introducing  a  card 
system  from  which  blue  prints  were  made  by  the  Cooper-Hewitt 
photographic  process.  The  value  of  this  innovation  cannot  be 
grasped  by  the  layman. 

Tradition  has  it  that  prize  orators  at  school  never  shine  as  speakers 
in  later  hfe.  D.  P.  Kingsley,  of  the  Vermont  University  class  of  '81, 
has  broken  this  rule.  Not  only  is  he  the  author  of  more  than  one 
book  on  insurance,  its  fundamental  principles  and  universal  ramifica- 
tions, but  he  is  a  brilliant  orator  and  is  in  constant  demand  to 
address  business  associations,  educational  institutions,  and  all  sorts 
of  banquets — one  of  his  neatest  addresses,  although  he  is  not  a  stickler 
for  creeds  and  doctrines,  was  recently  delivered  to  a  large  body  of 
Episcopal  clergymen  on  "The  Sin  of  the  Church." 

Mr.  Kingsley  is  a  man  of  big  ideas.  As  head  of  an  organization 
which  does  business  in  every  civilized  country  of  the  world  and  which 
finds  the  people  of  one  country  ready  to  pay  their  money  into  a  cen- 
tral fund  to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  all  other  nations 
in  common,  he  has  a  consuming  conviction  that  this  same  principle  of 
cooperation  between  nations  could  and  should  be  extended  to  the 
general  affairs  of  life  throughout  the  world,  thus  evolving  one  colossal 
democracy  recognizing  and  founded  on  the  brotherhood  of  man. 
We  have  outgrown  tribe  life  and  clan  life;  on  more  than  one  continent 
we  have  progressed  from  independent  and  isolated  states  to  common- 
wealths and  federations.  Why  not,  asks  Mr.  Kingsley,  carry  this 
development  across  national  boundaries? 

War,  he  contends,  is  the  logical  and  inevitable  fruit  of  the  doctrine 


238  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

of  sovereignty.  How  can  democracy  supplant  sovereignty  and  re- 
move the  war-breeding  friction  whicli  rule  by  sovereigns  begets? 
Here  is  Mr.  Kingsley's  answer,  delivered  in  a  recent  address: 

"Ultimately  through  the  federation  of  the  democratic  world,  but, 
as  a  first  step,  through  the  re-union  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  world.  This 
re-union  must  be  accomplished  not  to  over-awe  any  other  people, 
not  to  pile  up  force  with  which  to  meet  force,  not  to  eliminate  small 
nationalities  or  make  great  ones  afraid,  but  primarily  to  make  the 
Anglo-Saxon  world  really  democratic — democratic,  inter-state  as  well 
as  intra-state — democratic  as  our  forty-eight  States  are  internally 
democratic.  Such  a  federation  (not  confederation)  would  almost 
certainly  come  to  include — perhaps  before  its  completion — France, 
Holland,  Switzerland,  probably  the  Scandinavian  countries  and  Spain, 
and  possibly  some  of  the  republics  of  South  America.  'The  Parlia- 
ment of  Man'  would  then  be  something  more  substantial  than  a  poet's 
dream.  .  .  .  What  an  opportunity!  What  a  glorious  opportu- 
nity! After  the  hideous  ruin  of  1914-15-16,  after  seeing  Europe  do 
what  our  States  would  certainly  have  done  but  for  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton and  the  great  Federalists  who  drove  the  Federal  Constitution 
through  in  1787-8,  after  seeing  the  Southern  States  fearfully  attempt 
its  ruin  in  1861-5,  after  coming  ourselves  up  out  of  the  world  of  little- 
ness and  jealousy  and  fear,  after  feeling  the  pride  that  citizenship  in 
this  great  Republic  justifies — can  we  not  now  see  a  nobler  picture, 
do  we  not  get  a  wider  vision,  do  we  not  hear  the  call  of  a  still  more 
majestic  citizenship.?  .  .  .  The  Anglo-Saxon  Republic:  The 
United  English  Nations.     Who  shall  estimate  its  significance?" 

Insurance  knows  no  national  boundaries.  After  the  war  began 
the  New  York  Life  maintained  offices  and  met  claims  in  Germany  as 
well  as  in  France  and  Austria,  Russia  and  England.  Each  people 
has  paid  into  one  common  fund  and  from  that  common  fund,  com- 
posed of  the  moneys  drawn  from  all  nations,  receives  succour  according 
to  contract. 

"I  look  upon  life  insurance  as  an  international  evangel  preaching 
the  gospel  of  internationalism  and  brotherhood  with  a  force  and 
cogency  equalled  by  no  other  agency,"  Mr.  Kingsley  impressed  upon 
me  with  all  the  earnestness  of  a  Moody  or  a  Beecher. 

Of  Mr.  Kingsley's  qualities,  perhaps  the  most  notable  is  his  square- 
ness. He  hews  to  the  straight  line  and  will  tolerate  no  deviation 
therefrom  by  any  one  representing  the  company.  He  insists  likewise 
upon  a  square  deal /or  the  company.  His  social  friends,  when  playing 
pranks,  often  take  advantage  of  his  guilelessness,  I  am  told.  Mr. 
Kingsley  has  childlike  faith  in  his  fellowmen — the  world  appears  to 
us  largely  as  a  reflex  of  our  own  make-up. 

At  first  glance  he  gives  the  impression  of  seriousness  almost  to  the 


DARWIN  P.  KINGSLEY  239 

point  of  grufFness,  but  when  he  starts  to  speak  all  this  melts.  An  inti- 
mate told  me  that  he  once  remarked  to  Mr.  Kingsley:  "If  your  face 
could  only  reflect  your  heart,  people  would  warm  up  to  you  more  the 
moment  they  come  in  contact  with  you." 

Neither  his  tremendous  business  responsibilities  nor  his  activities 
as  a  scholar,  a  writer,  and  an  orator,  consume  his  whole  energies.  Un- 
til recently  he  was  president  of  the  unique  Hobby  Club,  each  member 
of  which  must  have  a  hobby  and  a  creditable  collection;  Mr.  Kings- 
ley's  is  Shakespeariana,  and  as  the  foundation  of  his  collection  he  was 
fortunate  in  securing  the  four  folios  more  than  twenty  years  ago. 
He  is  president  of  the  Seniors'  Golf  Association,  another  novel  body 
whose  annual  tournament  at  Apawamis  attracts  veterans  from  all 
over  the  country.  He  is  also  an  enthusiastic  disciple  of  Izaak  Walton. 
He  took  a  leading  part  in  organizing  the  Safety  First  Federation  and 
became  its  president.  The  American  Museum  of  Natural  History 
numbers  him  among  its  life  members. 

His  philosophy  of  life  has  led  him  to  subscribe  unreservedly  to  the 
creed  of  his  favourite  poet:  "The  merry  heart  goes  all  the  day,  the 
sad  one  tires  in  a  mile  a'."  In  his  journey  through  life  he  seems  to 
radiate  good  cheer. 

His  eldest  son,  Walton  P.  Kingsley,  graduated  from  his  father's 
Alma  Mater  in  1910  and  is  now  assiduously  climbing  the  insurance 
ladder.  His  other  sons  are  Darv\nn  P.,  Jr.,  and  John  M.,  both  stu- 
dents at  Groton.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Kingsley — the  latter,  Mr.  Kingsley's 
second  wife,  was  Josephine  I.  McCall,  daughter  of  the  late  John  A. 
McCall — also  have  two  daughters. 

I  have  made  the  discovery  that  the  ambition  of  nearly  every  suc- 
cessful man  is  to  receive  an  honorary  degree  from  his  Alma  Mater. 
Mr.  Kingsley  won  this  honour  at  forty-four. 


CYRUS  H.  Mccormick 

CARNEGIE  once  expressed  pity  for  millionaires'  sons.  He  de- 
clared that  their  fond  parents,  who  had  travelled  a  hard, 
stormy  road,  were  fearful  lest  a  pufF  of  cold  wind  touch  the 
cheek  of  their  precious  offspring.  Mollycoddles,  not  men,  were  thus 
bred,  poor,  pampered,  dependent  weaklings,  unable  to  stand  on  their 
own  feet,  to  fight  their  own  battles,  or  make  a  place  for  themselves  in 
the  world. 

"It  is  a  handicap,  being  the  son  of  a  rich  man,"  complained  the  heir 
of  one  of  America's  foremost  financiers  the  other  day.  "If  you  simply 
go  in  for  sport  and  pleasure  and  never  amount  to  anything,  people 
remark:  'That's  all  you  can  expect  of  a  rich  man's  son.'  If  you  apply 
yourself  seriously  to  study  and  then  to  business,  work  hard,  and 
think  hard,  and  succeed  in  accomplishing  really  important  things, 
you  get  no  credit  whatever.  People  then  say:  'Why  shouldn't  he 
amount  to  something.?  Look  at  all  the  advantages  he  had;  every- 
thing came  his  way,'     You  are  damned  either  way," 

There  is  truth  in  both  these  statements.  Many  millionaires  do 
rear  dainty,  hothouse  sons  who  are  of  less  worth  than  ciphers  since 
they  consume  much  and  produce  nothing.  Other  millionaires  bring 
up,  not  pleasure-chasing  ornaments,  but  young  men,  strong,  self- 
reliant,  well-disciplined,  well-trained,  and  inculcated  with  the  princi- 
ple that  they  must  use  their  talents  and  their  possessions  diligently 
and  worthily  and  so  win  an  honourable  place  in  the  world. 

"I  want  my  sons  to  know  how  to  endure  hardship,"  was  the  rule 
laid  down  by  the  brainy,  capable  mother  of  Cyrus  H.  McCormick, 
the  present  president  of  the  International  Harvester  Company,  an 
organization  whose  plants  and  appliances  and  ramifications  far  trans- 
cend those  of  the  more  loudly  advertised  Ford  motor  factory. 

Let  me  relate  how  the  boy  Cyrus  earned  his  first  money,  since  it 
illustrates  the  character  of  his  upbringing.  Twenty-two  tons  of  coal 
had  been  dumped  on  the  side  of  the  roadway  a  hundred  yards  from 
the  cellar  of  the  McCormick  home  to  be  loaded  Into  a  wheelbarrow, 
trundled  across  the  grounds,  and  emptied  into  the  coal  bin.  The 
twelve-year-old  Cyrus  volunteered  to  do  the  job  if  his  mother  would 
pay  him  the  regular  rate  of  fifty  cents  a  ton  allowed  for  this  work. 
She  readily  consented,  and  for  several  days  the  schoolboy  kept  load- 
ing and  pushing  and  emptying  that  wheelbarrow  until  the  last  pound 

240 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK  241 

of  the  twenty-two  tons  had  been  deposited  in  the  cellar.  His  back 
was  nearly  broken  and  his  hands  were  badly  blistered,  but  when  the 
work  was  done  he  placed  ^11  in  his  bank  and  resolved  to  set  about 
earning  ^100  as  fast  as  he  could. 

There  was  a  sad  sequel. 

By  doing  many  other  jobs  about  the  house  and  never  missing  an 
opportunity  to  earn  a  few  cents  or  a  few  dollars,  he  accumulated  in 
three  years  his  $100  and  deposited  it  in  a  savings  bank.  He  had  at- 
tained his  first  financial  ambition.  By  his  own  efforts  he  had  become 
a  capitalist.     His  achievement  gave  him  intense  satisfaction. 

One  month  later  the  bank  failed!  Carlyle  could  not  have  felt 
worse  when  he  discovered  that  the  maid  had  burned  the  manuscript 
of  his  "French  Revolution";  De  Lesseps  could  not  have  suffered 
more  through  the  collapse  of  his  Panama  Canal  venture;  nor  could 
Jay  Cooke  have  been  more  poignantly  chagrined  over  the  loss  of 
his  millions  than  was  young  Cyrus  McCormick  over  the  loss  of  his 
hard-earned  savings. 

"It  was  a  terrible  blow,"  he  told  me  not  long  ago,  "and  it  took  me 
some  time  to  accept  philosophically  the  consoling  words  of  my  mother 
that  the  experience  of  toiling  industriously  for  the  money  was  worth 
much  more  to  me  than  the  money  itself.  But,"  he  added  with  a 
laugh,  "I  now  believe  she  was  right." 

In  gathering  material  for  this  character  sketch  I  asked  one  of  Mr. 
McCormick's  Princeton  classmates,  who  has  remained  intimate  with 
him  ever  since,  what  were  some  of  Mr.  McCormick's  predominant 
qualities. 

"He  is  the  personification  of  'John  Halifax,  Gentleman.'  He 
might  well  stand,  also,"  he  replied,  "for  the  man  in  that  well-known 
anecdote  about  the  new  footman  who  was  engaged  during  his  mas- 
ter's absence  and  who,  on  being  told  to  go  to  the  station  to  meet  his 
master,  asked  his  mistress  how  he  would  be  able  to  recognize  him. 
'He  is  a  tall  man  and  you  will  be  sure  to  see  him  helping  some  one,' 
she  told  him.  That's  Cyrus  McCormick — a  tall,  robust  man  who  is 
constantly  helping  some  one.  Even  when  at  college  he  regarded  the 
inheritance  that  was  to  come  to  him  in  the  nature  of  a  responsibility, 
a  stewardship,  something  entailing  upon  him  a  great  duty  rather  than 
bringing  him  any  privileges  or  mere  pleasure.  He  had  inherited  a 
name  which  he  must  honourably  uphold  and  would  inherit  a  vast 
business  which  he  must  administer  creditably  for  the  sake  of  its 
founder,  for  the  sake  of  the  thousands  dependent  upon  it  for  a  liveli- 
hood, and  for  the  sake  of  its  farmer  customers  all  over  the  world  who 
looked  to  it  for  dependable  machinery." 

Few  sons  have  more  worthily  administered  their  heritage.  Not 
only  as  a  business  man,  as  head  of  an  enterprise  that  distributes  its 


242  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

agricultural  implements  in  every  civilized  country  throughout  the 
world  has  Cyrus  H.  McCormlck  amply  fulfilled  parental  hopes;  but 
he  has  attained  equally  noteworthy  success  as  a  public-spirited  citizen, 
as  an  employer  considerate  of  his  workers,  as  a  helper  of  his  fellow- 
men.  Were  all  wealthy  men  of  his  type,  millionaires  would  not  be 
held  in  such  suspicious  regard  by  the  people. 

It  is  trite  to  say  of  a  man  that  he  is  democratic.  Cyrus  McCormick 
is  democratic;  but  he  is  something  more  than  that.  During  the 
Columbian  Exposition  in  1892  there  was  a  dearth  of  men  to  push  the 
roller  chairs  while  Mr.  and  Mrs.  McCormick  were  showing  a  friend 
and  his  mother  the  sights,  and  without  any  fuss  Mr.  McCormick  put 
his  wife  in  one  chair  and  the  friend  put  his  mother  in  another  and 
they  pushed  the  chairs  for  a  couple  of  hours.  Other  men  might  do  a 
thing  like  that;  but  there  are  not  many  men  of  Mr.  McCormick's 
resources  who  live  as  simply  and  indulge  in  as  inexpensive  pleasures 
and  recreation  as  he  does.  Instead  of  maintaining  a  fleet  of  yachts 
or  a  string  of  race-horses,  his  favourite  diversions  are  tramping  in 
forests  or  over  mountainous  country,  camping  in  remote  spots  amid 
the  beauties  of  nature,  canoeing  in  little-explored  streams,  felling  trees, 
chopping  wood  and  other  activities  demanding  physical  exertion  but 
affording  healthful  mental  relaxation  "far  from  the  madding  crowd." 

"A  man  cannot  work  successfully  and  work  hard  unless  he  loves 
it  and  unless  he  keeps  in  sound  physical  condition,"  declared  Mr. 
McCormick.  "A  man  who  simply  sits  continuously  at  his  desk  with- 
out taking  exercise  to  keep  him  in  trim  will  not  do  his  best  work. 
The  best  tonic  and  restorative  for  a  tired  man  is  to  get  next  to  Nature. 
Tramping  and  camping  in  the  woods  is  the  best  thing  I  know  of  for 
developing,  not  only  a  man's  physique,  but  his  mentality  and  his 
. 

It  is  not  surprising,  rather  is  it  natural,  that  Cyrus  H.  McCormick 
should  be  a  man  of  both  physical  and  mental  power,  of  sustained  in- 
dustry, of  broad  vision,  of  large  heart,  of  rational  tastes,  sensible  of 
his  responsibilities  in  the  world.  He  was  born  of  such  stock.  From 
a  combination  of  these  qualities  sprang  the  reaper,  one  of  the  half- 
dozen  greatest  blessings  the  nineteenth  century  brought  to  mankind, 
since  it  virtually  abolished  famine  and  gave  bread  even  to  the  poorest 
of  civilized  peoples. 

The  reaper  was  not  born  without  travail  nor  nurtured  without 
struggle  and  stress,  pinching  and  plodding.  No  laurels  were  im- 
mediately placed  upon  the  brow  of  the  young  inventor  in  1832,  the 
first  Cyrus  H.  McCormick.  No  grateful  acclaim  greeted  his  discov- 
ery. No  fortunes  were  laid  at  his  feet  for  his  epochal  invention.  In- 
stead, he  ran  the  whole  gamut  of  ridicule  and  penury  and  hardship; 
of  blasted  hopes  and  blighted  ambitions.     But  through  it  all,  though 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK  243 

at  one  time  he  lost  every  penny,  he  at  no  time  lost  faith.  He  ex- 
hibited unconquerable  courage,  unwavering  tenacity,  and  indomitable 
optimism.  And  he  won.  Indeed  he  afforded  the  world  one  of  the 
few  instances  of  an  inventor  personally  becoming  a  manufacturer  on 
an  international  scale  and  garnering  a  large  fortune  from  the  universal 
adoption  of  his  idea. 

Even  before  the  first  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  was  born,  in  1809,  a 
McCormick,  his  father,  had  sweated  and  struggled  to  construct  a 
machine  that  would  cut  grain.  In  his  workshop  on  his  farm  under 
the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  of  Virginia,  Robert  McCormick,  grand- 
father of  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  worked  constantly  for  years  to 
invent  a  workable  reaper.  Early  in  1831  Robert  McCormick  brought 
a  machine  from  his  smithy,  hitched  horses  to  it,  and  tried  to  cut  a 
field  of  wheat.  His  experiment  was  a  flat  failure  and  he  gave  up  his 
quest. 

Not  so  the  son,  however.  He  started  on  an  entirely  new  track, 
evolved  the  reciprocating  blade  and  in  a  few  weeks  he  built  a  reaper 
containing  the  basic  principles  of  one  that  the  world  now  knows. 
On  its  first  tryout  it  cut  six  acres  of  oats.  Its  first  public  trial  in  the 
following  year  was  on  hilly,  uneven  ground,  and  as  it  did  not  instantly 
work  satisfactorily  it  was  jeered  at  and  laughed  to  scorn  until  a 
prominent  neighbour,  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature,  arrived  on 
the  scene  and  ordered  that  one  of  his  fences  be  torn  down  and  the 
machine  given  a  fair  chance  on  an  adjoining  field  owned  by  him. 
Here  it  worked  smoothly  and  successfully. 

The  world  before  then  had  been  dependent  on  the  sickle,  the  scythe, 
and  the  flail  for  its  bread.  Mankind  then  had  no  steel  plows,  no 
sewing  machines,  no  telegraph  or  telephone,  no  photography,  no 
postage  stamps,  and  no  railroads  to  speak  of.  In  the  little  log  work- 
shop on  that  remote  Virginia  farm  had  been  created  a  machine  that 
was  destined  to  drive  hunger  from  the  world.  It  was  destined  to  en- 
able the  North  to  preserve  the  Union  by  freeing  its  able-bodied  men 
from  the  hand-harvesting  of  the  fields.  It  was  destined,  moreover, 
to  lead  the  western  march  of  civilization.  The  reaper  likewise  was 
to  put  men  upon  the  soil,  to  transform  the  United  States  from  a 
wheat-importing  to  a  great  wheat-exporting  nation,  and  was  to  draw 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  to  this  country  from  the  pockets  of 
foreign  buyers. 

But  success  was  not  to  be  won  at  once.  It  took  nine  years  to  find 
the  first  buyer  of  a  reaper! 

From  183 1  to  1840  not  one  machine  could  be  disposed  of — not  even 
with  the  aid  of  an  advertisement  offering  the  reaper  at  ^50.  Mean- 
while the  young  inventor  had  taken  to  digging  ore  from  the  ground 
and  smelting  it,  a  business  he  thought  would  give  him  working  capital. 


244  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

The  terrible  panic  of  1837  swept  him  into  bankruptcy.  No  creditor 
cared  to  attach  his  grotesque  machine — nobody  thought  it  worth 
having.  The  sale  of  two  machines  in  1840  helped  a  little,  but  1841 
was  a  blank.  The  next  year  brought  seven  orders,  the  next  twenty- 
nine,  and  the  next  fifty. 

The  Virginia  farm  was  far  removed  from  transportation  facilities 
and  remote  also  from  the  developing  wheat  centres  of  the  Middle 
West.  So  in  1846,  when  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  McCormick  set 
out  to  survey  the  country  for  an  ideal  location  for  his  works.  With 
characteristic  shrewdness  he  chose  a  straggling  village,  untouched  by 
railroads,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan,  it  could  not  even  boast 
of  one  public  building  and  it  had  a  queer  name,  Chicago.  There  he 
found  a  partner  willing  to  pay  $2^,000  for  a  half  interest  in  the  busi- 
ness and  began  to  manufacture  the  McCormick  reaper  on  a  sizeable 
scale.  He  established  agencies  at  over  a  score  of  central  points  and 
adopted  the  then  novel  method  of  advertising  "Money  back  if  not 
satisfied."  He  offered  to  send  a  reaper  to  any  farmer,  let  him  use  it, 
and,  if  not  pleased  with  the  results,  return  it  at  the  maker's  expense. 

Then  came  constant  harassment  from  competitors,  a  mass  of  legal 
suits  and  other  worries  and  difficulties,  ^'ct  McCormick  found  time 
to  plan  and  do  big  and  still  bigger  tilings.  In  1851  he  sent  an  exhibit 
to  the  London  Exposition,  and  although  its  appearance  drew  forth 
the  ponderous  wit  of  staid  British  journals,  the  London  Times,  after 
the  reaper  had  been  put  to  a  practical  test,  retracted  all  its  previous 
abuse  and  declared,  "It  is  worth  the  whole  cost  of  the  Exposition." 

The  great  Chicago  fire  of  1871  wiped  out  the  McCormick  works, 
the  most  extensive  in  the  city.  McCormick  was  then  sixty-two  years 
of  age,  had  accumulated  a  fortune  of  several  million  dollars,  and 
measured  by  ordinary  standards,  had  done  more  than  his  share  of  the 
world's  work.  Would  he  retire.'*  He  put  the  question  up  to  Mrs. 
McCormick. 

"Re-build  at  once,"  was  her  immediate  and  emphatic  verdict. 

She  had  in  mind  not  only  the  welfare  of  their  army  of  workmen,  but 
also  the  future  of  another  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  by  this  time  twelve 
years  of  age.  She  did  not  want  her  boy  to  become  an  idler,  or  a  mere 
society  ornament.  She  was  an  intellectual,  devout,  painstaking, 
capable  woman,  zealously  training  her  son  to  be  a  useful,  upright 
citizen. 

I  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet  one  of  little  Cyrus's  boyhood  play- 
mates who  told  me  that,  even  when  a  mere  lad,  Cyrus  was  kept  con- 
stantly informed  about  the  business  of  the  family,  usually  from  his 
parents.  The  other  boys  used  to  wonder  at  his  knowledge  of  a  world 
about  which  they  knew  nothing.  They  pitied  him  because  business 
discussions  often  caused  an  interference  with  his  play,  but  they  had  a 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK  245 

vague  sort  of  admiration  for  the  attention  he  was  called  upon  to  give 
to  the  general  business  affairs  of  the  family. 

It  was  characteristic  of  the  McCormicks  that  they  sent  their  son 
to  the  public  school  in  Chicago — "the  best  in  the  world,  better  than 
any  private  school,"  remarked  Mr.  McCormick  in  discussing  his 
schooldays.  "There  were  sixty-five  boys  and  girls  in  my  class, 
and  the  poorest  children  usually  were  nearest  the  head  of  the  class, 
so  that  it  took  real,  hard  study  to  hold  one's  own."  Later  he  entered 
Princeton,  but  was  brought  back  to  enter  the  business  after  two  years' 
study,  as  his  father  was  then  (1879)  seventy  years  old. 

"My  father  taught  me  that  I  must  work,  and  must  work  out  my 
own  salvation,  that  I  was  to  have  no  favouritism,  that  I  must  apply 
my  whole  energy  to  learning  every  phase  of  the  business,"  Mr.  Mc- 
Cormick told  me.  "He  impressed  upon  me  that  constant  industry 
must  be  combined  with  intelligent  thinking  in  order  to  attain  success. 
No  amount  of  inherited  money,  he  explained,  could  gain  for  me  or 
any  one  else  a  high  and  honourable  place  in  the  world,  but  each  man 
must  carve  his  own  way,  and  by  the  sweat  of  his  brow  and  brain  earn 
his  own  station  in  business  and  the  world. 

"Under  such  conditions  and  counsel  I  began  my  apprenticeship. 
I  am  as  thorough  a  believer  in  such  a  policy  as  my  father  was,  and  am 
applying  it  to  my  own  sons,  one  of  whom  began  in  overalls  on  leaving 
college,  at  the  lowest  round  of  the  ladder  in  the  branch  house  of  the 
International  Harvester  Sales  Department  at  Wichita,  Kansas,  pre- 
liminary to  starting  in  at  headquarters  in  Chicago.  My  other  son  is 
at  Princeton." 

In  1884  the  Inventor  of  the  reaper  died,  and  the  present  Cyrus  H. 
McCormick  became  the  head  of  the  McCormick  Harvesting  Machine 
Company,  the  largest  industry  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  It  was  a 
tremendous  responsibility  for  a  man  of  twenty-five  years  of  age  to 
shoulder. 

"I  was  really  carried  along  at  first  by  the  tide  of  the  organization," 
Mr.  McCormick  modestly  explained.  "There  were  able,  trusted 
managers  who  supervised  things  until  I  found  myself  and  became  as 
much  of  a  real  president  as  I  could.  It  was,  I  confess,  a  somewhat 
staggering  responsibility,  for  our  business  practically  covered  the 
world.  We  were  at  home  in  every  wheat  field  on  the  globe.  We  had 
agencies  in  many  lands  and  had  to  keep  in  touch  with  agricultural, 
business,  and  financial  conditions  all  over." 

How  well  Mr.  McCormick  measured  up  to  his  responsibihties  was 
demonstrated  sixteen  years  later,  in  1902,  for  when  the  great  Inter- 
national Harvester  Company  was  organized  by  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Com- 
pany, he  was  selected  as  president  of  the  company. 

And  here  let  me  set  down  the  truth  about  how  this  merger  came 


246  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

into  existence,  for  more  fiction — picturesque  fiction,  most  of  it — has 
been  printed  on  this  subject  than  on  ahnost  any  other  industrial 
episode  in  America. 

Under  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  the  McCormick  Harvesting  Machine 
Company  was  expanding  aggressively,  even  in  face  of  the  cut-throat 
competition  which  had  raged  for  years,  and  one  day  Mr.  McCormick 
came  to  New  York  and  visited  Morgan  &  Company  with  a  view  of 
having  them  raise  additional  capital  to  take  care  of  the  growing 
business.  The  alert  George  W.  Perkins,  then  a  Morgan  partner, 
immediately  the  matter  was  broached  asked,  "Why  not  form  a  large 
and  new  company  with  capital  much  greater  than  anything  which 
now  exists?"  He  had  had  an  active  hand  in  forming  the  billion- 
dollar  Steel  Corporation  in  the  previous  year  and  saw  an  opportunity 
to  bring  off  another  gigantic  coup.  Negotiations  were  promptly 
started  with  the  leading  harvester  concerns.  There  were  bitter  rival- 
ries and  jealousies  to  handle,  but  the  problem  was  solved  by  buying 
each  company  outright  and  leaving  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  to 
organize  the  new  corporation  exactly  as  they  saw  fit,  not  only  fixing  its 
capital,  but  choosing  the  executives.  There  were  no  stipulations 
that  this  man  or  that  man  must  be  engaged  for  this  position  or  the 
next  position.  Morgan  &  Company,  as  sole  organizers,  had  an 
absolutely  free  hand. 

Their  choice  of  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  as  president  was  dictated 
solely  because  they  saw  in  him  the  best  man  for  the  job.  He  was 
strong  physically  and  mentally,  he  was  a  glutton  for  work,  he  had  so 
managed  his  own  company  that  it  was  the  foremost  in  the  field;  he 
was  young,  forceful,  enterprising,  long-visioned,  and  had  earned  the 
fullest  confidence  of  the  farmers  here  and  abroad. 

Mr.  McCormick  is  no  ornamental  executive.  For  several  years 
after  the  International  was  formed,  Charles  Deering,  as  chairman, 
shared  the  burdens,  but  for  the  last  half-dozen  years  Mr.  McCor- 
mick has  been  the  sole  executive  head  of  the  organization.  He 
has  spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  the  different  countries  of  Europe, 
especially  Russia,  developing  demand  for  the  corporation's  products 
— and  was  selected  by  the  United  States  Government  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Root  Commission  to  Russia,  where  "McCormick"  is  a 
name  to  conjure  with. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  relating  here  an  incident  that  brought  McCor- 
mick into  notice  abroad.  He  had  been  commissioned  by  his  father 
to  take  a  binder,  then  quite  a  novelty,  across  to  the  great  show  of  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  London  to  be  held  in  that  city.  On  the 
voyage  the  boat  carrying  the  machine  was  wrecked  and  it  lay  in  salt 
water  for  several  weeks,  but  was  rescued  just  in  time  to  rush  it  to 
London  for  the  field  test.     The  other  machines  appeared  on  the  scene 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK  247 

beautifully  painted  and  drawn  by  the  finest  of  horses.  Young  Mc- 
Cormick  conceived  the  idea  of  entering  his  rusty,  dilapidated-looking 
machine  without  giving  it  even  one  daub  of  paint  and  of  having  it 
pulled  by  a  couple  of  disreputable-looking  nags.  The  "exhibit" 
tickled  the  risibility  of  all  the  spectators,  who  made  it  the  butt  of  a 
constant  volley  of  jokes  and  squibs.  The  shining,  speckless  compet- 
ing machines,  with  their  exquisitely  groomed  steeds,  did  their  work 
more  or  less  satisfactorily.  Then  the  pitiable  McCormick  entry  was 
lined  up  while  everybody  waited  to  see  the  fun.  Lo!  Off  went  the 
shaggy  horses,  click-click  went  the  blade,  and  in  thirty  seconds  the 
ridicule  gave  way  to  admiration,  for  not  one  of  the  gaily-caparisoned 
exhibits  had  cut  down  and  bound  grain  with  the  speed  and  efficiency 
of  this  queer  contraption  rescued  from  a  salt-water  grave.  It  won, 
hands  down. 

The  Harvester's  activities  are  not  confined  to  reapers  and  binders; 
it  manufactures  some  thirty  different  machines  for  farmers.  The 
invention  of  the  reaper  in  1831  was  followed  in  the  70's  by  the  inven- 
tion of  the  wire  binder,  the  twine  binder  and,  more  recently,  by  the 
wonderful  machine  that  also  stacks  the  grain,  while  the  principal 
problem  now  under  solution  is  the  development  of  a  tractor  which  will 
mechanically  displace  horses  in  drawing  the  modern  powerful  binders, 
plows,  and  other  implements  used  on  a  large  scale  by  progressive 
farmers. 

Here  are  figures  which  illustrate  the  enormous  extent  and  the 
wide  diversity  of  the  International  Harvester's  operations: 

Harvesting  Machines  (Grain,  Grass,  and  Corn) 975,000 

Tillage  and  Seeding  Machines 525,000 

Engines,  Tractors,  and  Motor  Trucks 105,000 

Wagons  and  Manure  Spreaders 90,000 

Cream  Separators 3  5, 000 

Gray  Iron  Castings — Pieces 45,000,000 

Malleable  Iron  Castings — Pieces 75,000,000 

Malleable  Chain  Links 75,000,000 

Bolts 95,000,000 

Nuts 150,000,000 

Twine — tons 125,000 

Cars  shipped  from  all  Works  (1916) 60,054 

Lumber  requirements  1916  (board  feet) 120,000,000 

Steel  requirements  (tons)  1916 267,000 

Amazing  as  production  figures  of  the  International  are,  there  is 
still  40  per  cent,  of  the  world's  grain  cut,  not  by  machinery,  but  by 
hand.  Cyrus  McCormick  is  directing  much  of  his  energy  and  the 
energy  of  his  organization  to  remedying  this.  The  largest  untapped 
market  for  American  farm  machinery  is  in  Russia,  where  millions 


248  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

and  millions  of  acres  still  know  nothing  but  the  hand  sickle  ana  the 
scythe. 

"If  the  revolution  is  as  successful  as  is  expected,"  said  Mr,  McCor- 
mick  in  reply  to  my  questions  before  President  Wilson  selected  him 
as  a  commissioner  to  Russia,  "the  tremendous  potential  resources  of 
Russia  should  be  developed  more  rapidly  than  in  the  past.  Russia's 
latent  power,  its  vastness,  and  its  possibilities  impress  one  more  than 
those  of  any  other  country  in  the  world." 

Notwithstanding  all  his  business  duties,  Mr.  McCormick  has 
found  time  to  be  a  human,  humane  being.  One  thing  impressed  me: 
no  man  I  have  ever  written  about  lias  been  quite  so  admiringly  spoken 
of  by  his  friends  as  Mr.  McCormick. 

"He  is  absolutely  the  best  man  I  know,"  declared  a  prominent  man 
of  affairs  who  has  met  and  mingled  with  most  of  the  leading  figures  in 
America.  "His  constant  thought  is:  'What  is  right.?  what  is  my  duty? 
what  ought  I  to  do.'*'  His  success  as  a  business  man  is  well  known, 
but  no  one  but  himself  knows  half  the  good  he  has  done  in  aiding 
worthy  individuals  and  worthy  causes.  He  has  inherited  the  teach- 
ings of  his  Calvinistic  forefathers,  but  is  without  the  severe,  almost 
harsh  traits  that  often  accompany  the  followers  of  Calvin  and  Knox. 
His  treatment  of  his  employees  has  been  noble,  thoughtful,  and  gener- 
ous, and  I  understand  that  he  maintains  personally  a  bureau  to  look 
after  his  own  individual  philanthropies.  He  also  has  a  close  rela- 
tion to  the  McCormick  Theological  Seminary  for  the  education  of 
preachers.  He  has  always  been  personally  interested  in  and  a  con- 
tributor to  Princeton,  of  which  he  is  a  trustee.  The  Elizabeth  McCor- 
mick fund — founded  by  him  in  memory  of  his  little  daughter  who  died 
when  a  girl  of  twelve  years,  and  dedicated  to  the  welfare  of  children 
in  the  United  States — is  doing  a  work  of  national  importance  in  bring- 
ing open-air  schools  into  existence  for  the  education  and  benefit  of 
weak  and  defective  children.  He  has  given  generously  to  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.  and  I  personally  know  of  instance  after  instance  where  he  put 
his  hand  into  his  pocket  to  aid  persons  overtaken  by  misfortune." 

Over  20,000  Harvester  employees  participate  in  the  profits  through 
ownership  of  profit-sharing  certificates  subscribed  for  by  them,  and 
pensions  are  paid  to  old  and  incapacitated  employees.  An  elaborate 
medical  and  hospital  service  is  maintained  with  special  provision  for 
treating  victims  of  tuberculosis;  an  Employees'  Mutual  Benefit 
Association  is  liberally  supported  by  the  company,  and  in  every  way 
care  is  taken  to  insure  the  comfort  and  safety  of  the  employees. 

Under  Mr.  McCormick's  inspiration  the  International  is  now 
spending  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  in  educating  American 
farmers,  by  means  of  lectures  and  demonstrations  and  other  means, 
to  improve  and  extend  their  methods  of  cultivation  and  thus  become 


CYRUS  H.  McCORMICK  249 

more  capable  and  more  successful  crop-growers.  The  results  are 
proving  gratifying  beyond  expectation.  This  j^broadly  conceived, 
patriotic  work  brings  no  immediate  pecuniary  reward  to  the  com- 
pany, but  it  tends  to  make  farming  more  profitable  and  therefore  more 
attractive,  so  that  in  the  end  there  will  be  a  wider  demand  for  farm 
machinery.  Also,  this  commonsense  campaign  is  doing  something 
to  retard  the  soaring  cost  of  foodstuflFs. 

In  his  philanthropic  endeavours  Mr.  McCormick  is  enthusiastically 
supported  by  Mrs.  McCormick,  who  is  active  along  many  civic  and 
social  welfare  lines.  She  is  also  warmly  interested  in  woman  suffrage 
but  has  no  sympathy  with  the  militant  element  of  the  suffrage  move- 
ment. Especially  in  the  cause  of  child  welfare  has  Mrs.  McCormick 
enthusiastically  enlisted  with  personal  effort  and  pecuniary  support. 

There  are  few  American  families  who  deserve  better  at  the  hands 
of  their  country  than  the  McCormicks. 


J.  p.  MORGAN 

WHAT  kind  of  a  man  is  J.  P.  Morgan?** 
That  question  is  often  asked  but  seldom  answered  com- 
prehensively; so  instead  of  writing  an  account  of  Mr.  Mor- 
gan's career,  I  shall  attempt  to  analyze  his  character,  to  present 
a  study  of  his  characteristics,  to  diagnose  his  ideas,  and  to  dissect  his 
ideals.  In  trying  to  portray  the  personality  of  this  international 
figure,  I  am  able]to  write  without  the  biasthat  intimate  friendship  is  apt 
to  beget,  and  without  any  aid  or  suggestion  or  countenance  from  the 
subject  himself.  Yet  I  feel  that  my  deductions  arenotopentothecharge 
of  ignorance  of  Morgan  the  man  and  financier,  for  circumstances  have 
compelled  me  to  follow  his  activities  and  delve  into  his  motives  and 
quiz  his  friends  and  associates  for  more  than  a  decade. 

Had  Mr.  Morgan  the  power  he  would  forbid  the  writing  of  one  line, 
favourable  or  unfavourable.  But,  fortunately,  I  am  under  no  obliga- 
tion to  conform  to  his  wishes.  I  am  free  to  set  down  the  truth  as 
faithfully  as  my  knowledge  and  impressions  permit. 

Let  us  start  off  with  a  few  questions,  typical  of  the  many  constantly 
asked  about  the  heir  of  the  greatest  financier  America  ever  produced. 

Is  Jack  Morgan  a  second  J.  P.  ? 

He  is  not. 

Is  he  a  very  able  man  ? 

Able,  yes;  transcendentally  able,  no. 

Does  he  aspire  to  fill  his  father  s  shoes,  to  sit  on  the  throne  set  up  by  his 
father  and  rule  the  financial  world  ? 

J.  P.  Morgan  the  Second  is  not  ambitious  to  become  a  great  domi- 
nating force  over  the  whole  Kingdom  of  Finance.  He  possesses  neither 
the  will  nor  the  qualities  to  become  a  Napoleon.  He  is  obsessed  by 
no  lust  of  power.  While  far  from  being  a  figurehead  in  the  activities 
of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company,  he  is  content  to  let  his  trusted  associates, 
particularly  Henry  P.  Davison,  bear  the  brunt  of  the  actual  executive 
work,  conscious  that  it  is  in  capable  hands.  Mr.  Morgan  prefers  to 
live  a  rational,  unfevered  life;  for  no  honours  or  emoluments  would  he 
sacrifice  his  home  life,  forego  the  satisfying  pleasures  of  his  domestic 
hearth,  or  permit  himself  to  become  more  of  a  money-making  ma- 
chine than  a  man,  a  husband,  a  father.  He  is  infinitely  more  zealous 
that  the  reputation  of  his  firm  shall  not  be  tarnished  in  the  slightest 
degree  than  he  is  over  winning  additional  millions. 


J.  p.  MORGAN 


J.  p.  MORGAN  251 

What  kind  of  a  personality  has  he  ? 

He  is  the  most  undiplomatic  man  of  importance  in  America.  He 
is  the  product  of  his  heredity,  a  veritable  Bourbon.  He  would  con- 
sider it  beneath  his  dignity,  he  would  regard  it  as  weak,  contemptible, 
mugwumpish  to  go  out  of  his  way  one  inch  to  placate  the  public  or 
enable  it  to  understand  his  motives — or  even  to  remove  a  single  false 
conception  that  any  of  his  acts  may  have  created. 

"He  understands  the  public  and  can  put  himself  in  its  place  as 
little  as  you  or  I  understand  royalty  or  could  put  ourselves  in  its 
place,"  one  of  his  associates,  a  staunch  admirer,  told  me;  and  this 
unquestionably  is  the  truth.  His  father  did  not  have  to  reckon  with 
the  sovereignty  of  public  opinion  during  the  greater  part  of  his  life, 
and  his  attitude  toward  the  common  people  cost  him,  before  the 
end,  more  than  can  be  recorded.  His  son  has  not  yet  learned  the 
lesson.  Morgan  the  younger  is  as  punctilious  as  any  man  living 
that  his  acts  shall  be  honest  and  in  every  way  above  reproach,  accord- 
ing to  his  lights;  but  he  has  wofully  failed  to  realize  that,  next  to  doing 
the  right  thing,  the  most  important  consideration  is  to  do  it  in  the 
right  way,  that  the  public  may  see  that  it  is  right. 

He  is  seriously  lacking  in  statesmanship,  a  fact  that  more  than  once 
has  occasioned  the  financial  community,  especially  its  more  responsi- 
ble members,  grave  concern,  for  Mr.  Morgan  typifies  High  Finance 
in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  and  when  he  assumes  a  cavalier,  I-don't- 
care-a-snap-of-my-fingers  attitude — as  he  did,  not  without  provoca- 
tion, when  a  witness  before  the  Walsh  Industrial  Relations  Commis- 
sion— the  effect  upon  the  public,  upon  public  sentiment,  upon  citizens 
and  voters,  as  well  as  upon  lawmakers,  is  incalculably  injurious  not 
merely  to  financiers  as  a  class,  but  to  the  welfare  of  all.  This  hauteur 
constitutes  perhaps  his  most  regrettable  defect 

Is  Morgan  domineering  ? 

No.  His  apparently  lordly  attitude  toward  the  public  is  due  to  a 
mistaken  idea  of  his  place  in  the  financial  structure.  He  does  not 
look  upon  himself  as  the  most  dominant  figure  in  the  financial  world, 
as  powerful  enough  to  defy  anybody  and  everybody,  as  beyond  the 
reach  of  criticism  or  control;  he  sees  himself  merely  a  private  banker 
doing  a  large,  valuable,  constructive  business,  beneficial  for  the 
development  of  the  nation's  resources,  honest  and  straightforward 
beyond  cavil,  scrupulously  fair  to  his  clients — and  not  accountable  to 
any  one  else,  since  it  is  nobody  else's  business.  Modesty  thus  blends 
with  his  Bourbonlsm. 

Is  he  developing  ? 

Yes,  responsibility  has  broadened  him,  and  it  may  be  that  experi- 
ence will  in  time  teach  him  the  necessity  for  cultivating  some  of  the 
qualities  he  now  scorns.     More  than  one  event  of  the  last  three  years 


252  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

has  been  calculated  to  brlnj^  home  to  him  the  commonsense  wisdom 
of  striving  honourably  to  gain  the  good  will  of  his  fcllowmen  and  the 
shortsightedness,  not  to  say  folly,  of  antagonizing  and  irritating  them 
by  ignoring  or  flouting  them.  If  J.  P.  Morgan  would  only  reveal 
himself  to  the  public  as  he  reveals  himself  to  his  friends  he  could  and 
would,  without  any  sacrifice  of  self-respect,  become  one  of  the  most 
popular  financiers  in  the  country.  His  intimates  find  him  a  large- 
hearted,  red-blooded,  democratic,  considerate,  jovial,  humane, 
likeable,  companionable  fellow,  not  a  bit  purse-proud  or  arrogant  or 
selfish  or  small,  above  doing  anything  mean,  petty,  or  underhanded. 

"I  would  trust  Jack  Morgan  behind  my  back  as  far  as  any  man 
living,"  was  the  ringing  declaration  of  a  prominent  banker  not  of  the 
Morgan  group.  "I  don't  think  any  amount  of  money,  which  would 
be  a  small  consideration,  or  any  amount  of  prestige,  which  would  be 
a  strong  consideration,  would  for  a  moment  tempt  him  to  do  what 
he  knew  would  be  unfair  or  unjust.  He  may  not  always  analyze 
things  exactly  right;  in  the  very  nature  of  things  he  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  have  a  broad  social  view,  for  his  environment  has  always 
been  that  of  the  most  powerful  financiers,  friends  of  his  own  and  of 
his  father.  He  is  inexperienced  in  many  matters;  but  he  lives  up  to 
the  highest  standard  he  knows." 

Cynics  declared,  after  the  1907  panic,  tliat  there  was  only  one  man 
in  Wall  Street  that  all  Wall  Street  felt  could  be  trusted,  the  original 
J.  P.  Morgan.  The  truth  is  that  the  late  Mr.  Morgan  was  not  the 
most  brilliant  banker  in  America  or  the  best  judge  of  financial  propo- 
sitions; his  analyses  and  conclusions  often  were  faulty.  What  en- 
abled him,  then,  to  become  the  financial  Moses  of  the  New  World  .^ 
Simply  and  solely  his  unimpeachable  trustworthiness,  his  innate 
fairness,  his  inability.to  take  advantage  of  any  one.  Now  the  son  has 
inherited  these  same  virtues.  The  strict  maintenance  of  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  house  of  Morgan  is  with  him  a  fetich.  Rather  than  lower 
it  one  iota,  he  would  wipe  the  dust  of  the  financial  district  off  his  feet 
forever. 

It  was  widely  rumoured  that,  when  his  father  died,  the  son  began 
by  assuming  a  dictatorial  policy  tow^ard  other  financial  interests, 
that  he  adopted  his  father's  brusque  manner,  and  that  he  felt  he  was 
privileged  to  act  exactly  as  the  previous  head  of  the  house,  but  that 
he  was  soon  given  to  understand  by  those  whom  he  essayed  to  boss 
that  they  were  willing  to  cooperate  with  him,  but  not  to  be  coerced 
by  him,  that  they  would  gladly  work  with  him  on  a  basis  of  equality 
but  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  him  if  he  fancied  he  could  lay  down 
the  law  to  them.  There  was  very  little,  if  any,  truth  in  this.  Mr. 
Morgan's  lack  of  diplomacy  was  probably  responsible  for  the  creation 
of  any  such  impression. 


J.  p.  MORGAN  253 

The  inheritance  to  which  Mr.  Morgan  fell  heir,  in  1913,  was  not  all 
roses.  The  bald  truth  is  that  he  found  himself  in  a  trying  position. 
He  was  bitterly  assailed  for  hurriedly  selling  important  parts  of  his 
father's  art  collection  for  which  a  special  "Morgan  Wing"  was  added 
to  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art;  and  in  the  inner  circles  a  good 
deal  of  indignation  was  felt  when  it  became  known  that  the  person  in 
charge  of  the  collection  first  learned  the  news  of  the  sale  from  reporters 
and  not  from  Mr.  Morgan  himself.  This  latter  fact  illustrates  Mr. 
Morgan's  inherent  tactlessness.  But  the  disposal  of  the  priceless 
pictures  for  which  New  York  City  had  erected  a  special  home  was  not 
prompted  solely  by  want  of  public  spirit  on  the  son's  part.  He  did 
not  sell  them  for  the  fun  of  the  thing.  His  father  in  the  later  years 
of  his  life  had  devoted  the  bulk  of  his  income  to  buying  art  objects, 
the  upkeep  of  which  entailed  inordinate  expense.  The  Morgan  will 
revealed  that  the  popular  belief  that  Mr.  Morgan  was  fabulously 
wealthy  was  wrong.  Outside  of  his  collections  and  other  property 
which  constituted  a  liability  rather  than  an  asset,  he  left  compara- 
tively little  realizable  wealth.  His  security  holdings,  apart  from 
several  millions  (par  value)  that  were  classed  as  worthless  or  of  nom- 
inal value,  aggregated  only  $19,000,000,  while  of  cash  he,  of  course, 
left  only  an  inconsiderable  amount. 

To  carry  on  an  international  banking  firm  requires  a  vast  amount  of 
capital  and,  in  blunt  language,  the  younger  Morgan  needed  the  money 
to  run  his  business,  to  pay  the  $3,000,000  inheritance  tax,  and  to  take 
care  of  the  various  provisions  in  the  will.  His  sales  of  pictures,  etc., 
were  prompted  more  by  necessity  than  by  choice,  although  I  under- 
stand that  some  of  the  newspaper  comments  on  his  father  had  stirred 
him  into  a  somewhat  resentful  frame  of  mind.  It  was  characteristic 
of  his  makeup,  however,  that  he  allowed  his  fellow-citizens  to  inter- 
pret his  conduct  in  any  way  they  saw  fit. 

A  recent  incident  is  illuminating  in  this  connection.  Since  the 
European  war  began  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company,  as  fiscal  agents  for 
the  Allies,  have  occupied  a  unique  and  most  profitable  position,  the 
duties  of  which,  incidentally,  it  has  discharged  with  conspicuous 
ability — did  not  Jacob  H.  Schiff,  head  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.,  Morgan's 
most  powerful  rivals  in  private  international  banking,  describe 
Morgan  &  Co.,  in  a  speech  on  the  Liberty  Loan,  as  "the  house  which 
has  done  more  than  any  other  in  this  country  to  make  the  world 
safe  for  democracy.?"  Mr.  Morgan,  no  longer  under  the  necessity  of 
counting  his  dollars,  notified  the  American  Academy  in  Rome  that 
he  would  cancel  one  dollar  of  its  indebtedness  to  him  (as  his  father's 
legatee)  for  every  dollar  contributed  to  its  endowment  fund.  He 
also  made  a  handsome  money  gift  recently  to  Trinity  College,  Hart- 
ford.    His  firm's  subscription  for  no  less  than  $50,000,000  Liberty 


254  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Bonds  is  worth  recording.  These  acts  give  a  truer  insight  to  the 
man  than  did  his  disposal  of  the  pictures. 

I  want  to  give  the  inside  explanation  of  another  matter  which 
caused  widespread  criticism,  namely,  Mr.  Morgan's  apparently  super- 
cilious replies  to  questions  put  to  him  by  members  of  the  Walsh 
Commission  appointed  by  Congress. 

It  was  the  presence  of  moving-picture  machines  that  upset  the 
banker's  equilibrium. 

While  Mr.  Morgan,  in  common  with  almost  every  one  else,  viewed 
Walsh  as  a  notoriety-seeking  mountebank,  he  did  not  proceed  to  the 
examination  room  with  battle  in  his  eye.  He  was  prepared  to  answer 
all  legitimate  questions  and  to  give  not  only  facts,  but,  if  necessary, 
his  views,  on  matters  coming  directly  within  his  sphere.  The  mo- 
ment he  took  the  witness  chair,  however,  "movie"  machines  began 
to  click-click  all  around  him.  The  nozzle  of  one  machine  was  levelled 
at  him  within  a  few  feet  of  his  face,  and  every  time  he  opened  his 
mouth  or  moved  an  eyelash  the  machine  opened  up  full  fire. 

This  riled  Morgan.  He  felt  that  he  had  been  summoned,  not  to 
help  the  work  of  the  Commission,  but  to  provide  a  public  exhibition, 
to  attract  sensational  attention  to  Walsh's  doings  and  to  give  yellow 
newspapers  material  for  illustrated  front-page  stories.  So  Morgan 
balked.  He  considered  that  the  Commission  was  subjecting  him  to 
unfair,  unnecessary,  and  undignified  treatment  and  that,  therefore,  he 
was  not  obligated  to  lend  himself  more  than  he  could  avoid  to  its 
far-from-judicial  tactics. 

Hence,  when  he  was  asked  if  he  considered  ^lo  a  week  a  proper 
wage  for  a  longshoreman  and  replied,  under  pressure,  "If  that's  all 
he  can  get  and  he  takes  it,  I  should  say  that  is  enough,"  the  public  was 
not  afforded  a  picture  of  the  real  Morgan,  but  of  a  citizen  righteously 
indignant  and  angry.  Of  course,  a  man  of  the  suavity  and  broad- 
mindedness  of  the  late  J.  J.  Hill  or  Charles  M.  Schwab  would  have 
retained  his  poise  and  avoided  giving  the  public  the  impression  of 
utter  indifference  to  the  social  welfare  of  the  masses.  But  how  many 
of  us  would  have  kept  cool  and  collected  under  such  circumstances? 

Morgan's  attitude  was  at  least  human — and  understandable. 

J.  P.  Morgan  does  not  know  fear.  Though  detectives  are  alert 
during  these  disturbed  times  it  is  not  uncommon  to  see  Mr.  Morgan 
elbowing  his  way  through  the  curb  market  melee  or  swinging  along 
Wall  Street  unescorted  and  unshadowed.  He  has  braved  Germany's 
submarines  several  times,  crossing  and  re-crossing  the  Atlantic  when- 
ever business  has  demanded.  His  fearlessness,  in  a  sense,  is  respon- 
sible for  his  indifference  to  what  the  masses  may  think  of  anything  he 
does  in  the  financial  or  industrial  field. 

No  man  ever  gave  a  finer  exhibition  of  physical  courage  and  chiv- 


J.  p.  MORGAN  255 

airy  than  Mr.  Morgan  when  an  assassin  entered  his  country  home  at 
Glen  Cove  on  Long  Island  and  pointed  a  pistol  at  him.  Instead  of 
attempting  to  save  himself,  which,  according  to  all  accounts,  he  might 
have  done  by  darting  under  cover,  Mr.  Morgan,  fearful  lest  the  maniac 
injure  his  wife  or  children,  sprang  at  the  mouth  of  the  upraised  gun 
and,  though  wounded,  grappled  with  the  would-be  murderer  and 
overpowered  him.  Like  H.  C.  Frick,  under  somewhat  similar  cir- 
cumstances, Morgan  kept  his  head  and  acted  throughout  with  the. 
utmost  bravery. 

Nor  could  he  understand  why  the  newspapers  made  such  a  hubbub 
about  the  incident.  When  Rudyard  Kipling  was  at  death's  door 
during  a  long  illness  contracted  at  the  height  of  his  fame  the  news- 
papers published  bulletins  and  columns  about  the  course  of  his  illness 
day  by  day,  but  Kipling,  on  regaining  consciousness  and  rallying 
somewhat,  asked  innocently:  "Did  any  one  call.f"'  Morgan  was  a  bit 
like  that. 

An  incident  significant  of  Mr.  Morgan's  conception  of  his  position 
and  personal  rights  occurred  the  first  time  he  was  able  to  leave  his 
house.  As  he  and  a  companion  approached  his  yacht,  tied  up  at  its 
pier,  they  saw  a  photographer  in  a  small  boat  manifestly  waiting  to 
snap  the  banker.  He  was  furious.  The  idea  of  a  photographer  or 
any  one  else  invading  his  property  and  infringing  upon  his  privacy  was 
to  him  not  only  a  gross  insult,  but  an  utterly  unwarranted  intrusion 
upon  his  freedom  and  liberty  as  a  private  individual.  Hadn't  he  an 
indisputable  right  to  be  left  alone  on  his  own  property?  He  was  no 
public  character,  no  statesman,  no  officeholder  elected  by  public 
vote.     He  was  merely  an  ordinary  person,  a  private  banker. 

When  the  photographer  made  overtures  to  Morgan  he  was  met 
with  an  oral  volley.  Meanwhile,  Mr.  Morgan's  companion,  seeing 
the  effect  the  encounter  was  having,  began  to  explain  that  this  man 
was  only  trying  to  carry  out  orders  given  him  by  his  employer  and 
that  if  he  had  refused  to  do  his  best  he  would  doubtless  have  lost  his 
job. 

Just  as  Mr.  Morgan  was  stepping  on  board  the  yacht  his  hat  blew 
into  the  water.  The  photographer  rescued  it,  and  as  he  handed  it 
up  he  remarked  that,  though  Mr.  Morgan  would  not  let  him  take  a 
picture,  he  (the  photographer)  was  a  good  sport  "and  here's  your 
hat." 

Like  a  flash  Mr.  Morgan's  anger  gave  place  to  a  broad  smile.  He 
saw  things  in  a  new  light.  The  photographer  became,  not  an  inter- 
loper on  an  offensive  mission,  but  a  fellow-mortal  trying  to  do  his  best 
to  earn  his  pay.  Morgan  immediately  posed,  not  once,  but  several 
times  in  order  that  the  photographer  might  get  exactly  the  kind  of 
picture  he  wanted. 


256  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

There  you  have  two  sides  of  the  Morgan  character — intolerance 
of  public  curiosity  and  interest  in  him,  but,  beneath  it  all,  a  large  heart. 

One  more  incident  will  suffice  to  emphasize  the  human  sympathy 
that  lies  beneath  Morgan's  ostensible  callousness  where  the  rank  and 
file  are  concerned.  Some  time  ago  the  newspapers  reported  how 
money  had  been  stolen  from  the  Morgan  offices  and  a  boy  arrested 
for  the  theft.  While  Mr.  Morgan's  sense  of  justice  and  discipline 
would  not  allow  him  to  let  the  offender  go  unpunished,  he  at  once 
sent  for  the  boy's  mother,  assured  her  that  the  lad  would  be  given  a 
chance  to  make  good  in  another  place,  and  arranged  tiiat  she  should 
not  suffer  financially.  "He  could  not  have  treated  that  mother  more 
kindly  if  she  had  been  his  own  sister,"  one  of  his  friends,  familiar  with 
the  facts,  informed  me. 

Mr.  Morgan's  beautiful  affection  for  his  mother  and  his  unremitting 
attention  to  her  comfort  and  happiness,  as  well  as  his  intense  fondness 
of  his  own  domestic  circle  are  matters  of  general  knowledge.  For  his 
father  he  had — there  is  only  one  word  to  use — reverence.  For  years 
the  son  was  constantly  his  father's  companion  at  the  exclusive  card 
parties,  composed  of  some  half-a-score  of  the  aged  banker's  most 
intimate  friends,  as  well  as  at  other  functions,  while  in  business  matters 
the  same  close  association  prevailed  during  the  last  decade. 

Yet  when  the  Morgan  mantle  fell  upon  the  son  the  public  and  the 
press  knew  little  or  nothing  of  his  character  or  calibre.  This  was 
because  Jack  Morgan  had  scrupulously  remained  in  the  background. 
He  had  no  thirst  for  fame.  He  was  not  ambitious  to  become  recog- 
nized as  the  sole  factor  in  guiding  the  destinies  of  the  house  of  Morgan. 
Even  now  Mr.  Morgan  consistently  dodges  the  limelight.  His  name 
is  rarely  attached  to  any  statement;  he  elects  to  have  Mr.  Davison  or 
some  other  partner  attend  to  all  matters  calling  for  public  announce- 
ment. 

Banking  was  in  Jack  Morgan's  blood  when  he  was  born,  in  New 
York,  on  September  7,  1867.  "Morgan"  was  even  then  a  name 
known  the  world  over.  Junius  Spencer  Morgan,  the  grandfather, 
comparatively  early  earned  the  reputation  of  being  "the  best  business 
man  in  Boston,"  and  was  selected  by  George  Peabody,  the  foremost 
American  international  banker  of  that  day,  as  a  partner.  He  went 
to  London,  the  Peabody  headquarters.  When  Mr.  Peabody  died, 
ten  years  later,  the  firm  of  J.  S.  Morgan  &  Co.  was  organized.  Its 
head,  who  was  a  mathematical  genius,  soon  became  recognized  as  a 
financial  giant.  He  startled  conservative  Europe  by  undertaking, 
in  1870,  to  float  a  loan  of  $50,000,000  for  the  provisional  French 
Government,  then  crumbling  to  defeat,  its  Emperor  already  a  prisoner 
of  the  Germans.  Junius  Morgan  boldly  formed  a  "syndicate," — then 
anovelty  to  Anglo-Saxon  finance — handled  the  daring  transaction  with 


J.  p.  MORGAN  257 

masterly  skill,  and  cleaned  up  several  millions  of  profit  in  eighteen 
months. 

Meanwhile  a  second  Morgan,  John  Pierpont,  after  beginning  his 
career  with  Mr.  Peabody's  New  York  correspondents,  had  become 
the  Peabody  representative  and  later  formed  the  firm  of  Dabney, 
Morgan  &  Co.  In  1871  he  joined  the  powerful  Drexels  of  Philadel- 
phia, the  house  then  becoming  known  as  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.  Its 
chief  rival  was  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.,  and  when  that  meteoric  firm  failed 
in  1873,  the  Drexel-Morgan  house,  along  with  August  Belmont,  the 
Rothschilds'  representative,  became  the  Government's  mainstay  in 
underwriting  and  refunding  its  enormous  war  debts — using  the  syn- 
dicate as  its  chief  instrument.  In  this  work  J.  P.  Morgan  played  an 
active  part;  but  his  greatest  achievements  were  to  come  later,  in 
organizing  and  financing  railroad  and  industrial  corporations  more 
colossal  than  any  the  world  had  known. 

The  third  Morgan,  "Jack,"  emerged  from  Harvard  with  an  A.B. 
degree  in  1889,  by  which  time  his  father  was  the  recognized  leader 
of  American  finance.  At  college  young  Morgan,  a  strong,  muscular 
six-footer,  had  exhibited  several  inherited  traits;  he  had  a  will  of  his 
own,  pronounced  determination,  an  admixture  of  brusqueness  and 
jollity,  was  normally  fond  of  recreation,  and  possessed  an  average 
amount  of  brains.  His  father  lost  no  time  in  breaking  him  into  finan- 
cial harness.  After  a  sound  preliminary  training,  under  paternal 
tuition,  at  the  New  York  office  of  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Co.,  Jack  was 
sent  to  London  to  broaden  his  vision  and  his  experience.  Both  he 
and  his  wife — he  married  Miss  Jane  Norton  Grew  in  1890 — "took 
to"  English  life,  made  many  friends  there,  and  have  ever  since  had  a 
hankering  for  English  ways  and  customs.  While  in  London,  where  he 
kept  also  in  close  touch  with  the  Paris  branch  of  the  firm,  young 
1  Morgan  developed  notably  as  a  banker.  He  remained  there  until 
1905.  Long  before  then — in  1894,  in  fact — he  had  become  a  partner 
of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.,  "Drexel"  having  been  dropped  from  the  firm 
name. 

Curiously,  the  first  notable  work  undertaken  by  J.  P.  the  Second, 
within  eighteen  months  of  his  father's  death,  was  for  his  English  and 
French  friends.  On  his  accession  he  had  notified  his  partners  that  the 
amalgamation  and  concentration  of  banking  institutions  and  re- 
sources had  gone  far  enough  and  that  the  house  would  confine  itself 
strictly  to  attending  to  its  regular  business.  He  outlined  a  conserva- 
tive policy. 

But  he  was  destined  to  become  the  child  of  Fate — or  Fortune.  The 
sudden  declaration  of  war  by  Germany,  followed  immediately  by 
Britain's  entrance  into  the  conflict,  threw  New  York  into  a  financial 
panic.     The  Municipality  of  New  York  owed  London  scores  of  mil- 


2S8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

lions  and  London  insisted  upon  payment  in  gold.  Sterling  exchange 
went  skyrocketing  to  $"] — that  is,  the  English  pound,  normally  worth 
$4.65,  could  not  be  procured  here  under  $7.  There  was  a  deadlock. 
And,  as  in  1907,  the  financial  community,  as  well  as  the  New  York 
City  government,  turned  to  the  Corner  House,  to  Morgan,  for  succour. 
The  crisis,  as  every  one  knows,  was  met  successfully. 

When  the  Allies,  thrown  into  confusion  by  the  tragic  events  in  the 
first  stages  of  the  war,  found  themselves  in  desperate  need  of  hundreds 
of  millions'  worth  of  military  supplies,  they  turned  to  J.  P.  Morgan 
&  Co.  as  the  only  concern  capable  of  enabling  them  to  cope  with  the 
situation.  The  firm  was  appointed  fiscal  agents  of  both  Britain  and 
France  and  was  commissioned  to  purchase  all  war  materials  required 
here,  its  remuneration  being  one  per  cent,  on  everything  bought  and 
all  expenses  paid. 

No  other  banking  house  ever  conducted  operations  of  a  magnitude 
such  as  those  undertaken  and  successfully  carried  through  by  J.  P.  Mor- 
gan &  Co.  during  the  last  three  years,  operations  not  confined  to  banking, 
not  confined  to  raising  for  Europe  loans  approximating  Ji  1,5 00,000,000, 
not  confined  to  importing  $1,000,000,000  in  gold  metal,  not  confined 
to  marketing  for  the  Allies  untold  millions  of  American  securities, 
not  confined  to  keeping  the  foreign  exchanges  on  a  workable  basis, 
but  operations  entirely  outside  the  purlieu  of  bankers,  the  placing  of 
contracts  for  three  billion  dollars'  worth  of  merchandise  of  every 
conceivable  description,  the  passing  upon  the  responsibility  and  ability 
of  scores  of  concerns  to  turn  out  satisfactory  munitions,  the  financing 
or  extension  of  numerous  enterprises  designed  to  meet  the  dire  needs 
of  half-a-dozen  European  nations  in  the  throes  of  a  life-or-death 
struggle. 

All  that  Morgan  &  Co.  have  done  probably  will  never  be  known — 
when  he  lent  the  Army  Department  $1,000,000  without  security  to 
help  it  out  of  a  hole  he  was  chagrined  when  the  incident  found  its 
way  into  the  newspapers.  In  the  historic  achievement  of  Morgan 
&  Co.  during  the  war  Mr.  Morgan  has  been  no  idle  onlooker.  On  his 
shoulders  and  on  the  shoulders  of  H.  P.  Davison,  T.  W.  Lamont,  and 
E.  R.  Stettinius  have  fallen  the  brunt  of  the  burden.  It  is  a  work 
into  which  Mr.  Morgan  has  thrown  his  whole  heart  and  soul,  for  he 
feels  that  in  so  doing  he  has  been  aiding  in  the  preservation  of  civiliza- 
tion, in  making  "the  world  safe  for  democracy." 

My  opinion  is  that  Mr.  Morgan  will  not  remain  in  active  harness 
as  long  as  his  father  did,  but  that  by  and  by  he  will  spend  a  goodly 
part  of  his  time  in  semi-leisure  either  here  or  in  England.  He  is 
interested  in  various  things  besides  banking,  particularly  the  domestic 
circle.  It  may  astonish  most  people  to  learn  that  he  is  a  student  of 
the  Bible  and  constantly  quotes  passages  from  it.     He  is  also  a  de- 


J.  p.  MORGAN  259 

voted  Shakespearian  scholar.  He  likes  to  read  good  literature.  Then 
he  is  an  enthusiastic  yachtsman,  the  owner  of  a  number  of  fast  boats 
and  vice-commodore  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club.  He  is  more  of  a 
tennis  player  than  a  golfer. 

Incidentally,  all  unknown  to  the  multitude,  Jack  Morgan  has  been 
the  inspiration  of  more  than  one  of  the  profit-sharing,  stock-ownership 
and  other  schemes  for  the  benefit  of  the  employees  of  concerns  with 
which  the  house  have  been  financially  associated. 

The  notion  promulgated  by  muckrakers  that  J.  P.  Morgan  is  a 
rapacious,  money-thirsty,  unprincipled  capitalist,  bent  only  on  self- 
aggrandizement  regardless  of  the  consequences  to  others,  is  false 
through  and  through.  For  the  prevalence  of  this  idea  he  himself  is 
partly  to  blame.  He  could  do  much  to  remedy  matters  by  taking  a 
leaf  out  of  young  John  D.  Rockefeller's  book  and  adopting  a  less 
I-don't-care  attitude  in  his  dealings  with  the  public,  for,  after  all,  we 
are  all — rich  and  poor,  high  and  humble — members  of  one  human 
brotherhood. 

As  a  P.S.  let  me  add  that  another  Morgan  is  in  the  making,  Junius 
Spencer,  a  Harvard  graduate  who  was  learning  the  ropes  in  his  father's 
firm  but,  immediately  war  was  declared  by  President  Wilson,  became 
a  naval  gunner.  Before  then  he  could  have  been  seen  almost  any 
night  making  for  the  subway  with  a  not-aristocratic  pipe  in  his  mouth 
and  mayhap  carrying  a  parcel  of  a  size  and  style  that  the  average 
ten-dollar-a-week  bank  clerk  would  scorn  to  be  seen  with.  He  puts 
on  no  airs.  The  other  fellows  in  the  office  claim  him  as  one  of  them- 
selves. 

Mr.  Morgan's  two  daughters,  Jane  Norton  and  Frances  Tracy, 
were  recently  married.     He  has  another  son,  Henry  Sturgis  Morgan. 

America  can  at  least  feel  that  at  the  head  of  our  greatest  banking 
house  there  is  an  honest  man. 


WILLIAM  H.  NICHOLS 

A  MERICA  has  tardily  awakened  to  the  necessity  for  the  do- 

/-\     mestic  production  of  chemicals.     One  American  realized  the 

-*-  -^  opportunities  and  importance  of  the  chemical  industry  nearly 

fifty  years  ago  and  has  produced  possibly  a  greater  quantity  of  heavy 

chemicals  than  any  other  man  in  the  world. 

From  a  humble  business  employing  one  helper,  William  H.  Nichols 
has  built  up  an  organization  owning  and  operating  over  thirty  chemi- 
cal manufacturing  plants  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  and  em- 
ploying tens  of  thousands  of  workmen.  The  General  Chemical 
Company  possesses  assets  of  $50,000,000,  earns  profits  of  millions 
yearly,  pays  handsome  dividends  to  its  stockholders,  and  brings  to 
America  millions  of  dollars  from  oversea  buyers  of  its  products. 

When  William  H.  Nichols  took  up  the  scientific  manufacture  of 
chemicals  there  were  only  a  few,  relatively  small,  chemical  plants  in 
this  country,  run  for  the  most  part  by  men  of  little  or  no  technical 
or  scientific  education  in  chemistry.  Rule-of-thumb,  rough-and-ready 
methods  were  in  vogue.  How  Nichols,  as  a  youth,  came  to  study  for 
and  enter  the  chemical  industry  is  worth  recording  for  the  benefit  of 
others. 

"Every  young  man  when  he  is  in  the  formative  stage  of  his  youth 
should  consider  carefully  and  seriously  what  he  wants  to  be  or  do. 
When  I  was  quite  a  young  lad,  before  I  entered  college,  I  looked  over 
the  whole  situation  and  tried  to  study  out  what  field  offered  the  most 
attractive  opportunities,"  Mr.  Nichols  told  me.  "I  found  that  in 
the  chemical  business  there  were  few  who  had  been  thoroughly  edu- 
cated for  it,  few  who  had  had  scientific  training  at  college.  I  con- 
cluded that  if  I  took  a  scientific  course  and  applied  myself  diligently 
there  would  be  a  chance  to  attain  at  least  a  fair  measure  of  success. 
So  I  enrolled  under  Dr.  John  W.  Draper  and  his  two  sons  at  New 
York  University  although  the  few  scientific  students  of  that  day  were 
looked  down  upon  by  students  in  other  branches  and  considered  of 
lower  rank. 

"I  was  very  much  in  earnest.  Even  as  a  youth  I  realized  that  I 
had  only  one  life  to  live,  and  I  was  determined  to  make  it  count  as 
much  as  possible.  Any  fellow  who  has  a  chance  to  acquire  a  proper 
education  and  neglects  his  opportunity  is  foolish. 

"As  soon  as  I  had  graduated,  in  1870,  I  went  into  business  on  my 

260 


WILLIAM  H.  NICHOLS 


WILLIAM  H.  NICHOLS  261 

own  account,  but  as  I  was  not  of  age — I  was  only  a  little  over  eighteen 
— I  could  not  use  my  own  name.  Along  with  a  man  named  Walter,  I 
formed  the  firm  of  Walter  &  Nichols,  my  father  lending  me  his  name 
until  I  reached  twenty-one,  when  the  name  was  changed  to  Nichols, 
Walter  &  Nichols.  When  more  than  one  pair  of  hands  was  needed 
to  do  a  job  I  had  to  supply  those  hands — that  is,  I  had  to  stop  my 
laboratory  work  and  help  to  turn  out  the  stuff,  mostly  acids. 

"Walter's  untimely  death  in  an  accident  knocked  my  entire  plans 
on  the  head,  as  he  had  looked  after  all  the  office  work  and  all  the  busi- 
ness end.  I  was  strictly  a  scientific  man,  with  no  practical  experience 
in  handling  business  problems.  I  tried  to  get  along  by  getting  up 
very  early  every  morning,  doing  the  factory  and  the  laboratory  work 
in  the  forenoon,  taking  a  horse  car  from  our  place  on  Newtown  Creek 
to  New  York,  and  then  hustling  for  orders  and  attending  to  other 
matters  in  the  afternoon,  returning  to  clean  up  the  office  duties  after 
the  day's  work  was  over. 

"I  soon  realized,  however,  that  I  could  not  accomplish  very  much 
alone,  so  I  engaged  the  now-celebrated  Dr.  J.  B.  F.  Herreshoff,  at 
what  then  appeared  to  be  the  staggering  salary  of  $2,000,  to  be  my 
factory  man.  We  were  producing  chiefly  sulphuric  acid,  muriatic 
acid,  nitric  acid  and  tin  crystals.  The  veteran  rule-of-thumb  men  in 
the  business,  my  competitors,  thought  I  was  crazy  to  employ  a  scien- 
tific chemist  like  Herreshoff,  but  I  had  my  own  ideas  about  the  value 
of  a  sound  education  and  scientific  knowledge.  I  was  not  spending 
anything  like  $2,000  on  my  own  living  expenses.  I  put  every  penny  I 
could,  not  into  expensive  clothes  or  any  other  luxuries,  but  into  the 
works,  and  also  borrowed  additional  sums  from  my  father  to  enable 
me  to  branch  out.  For  a  second  time,  after  I  had  things  going,  I  was 
suddenly  landed  in  a  hole. 

"There  was  a  gentleman's  agreement  in  the  trade  regarding  the 
price  of  sulphuric  acid.  Without  giving  me  a  hint  of  warning  all  the 
others  cut  their  prices,  booked  up  every  available  order  and  contract, 
and  left  me  without  a  single  customer.  This  bolt  from  a  clear  sky 
naturally  upset  everything. 

"Not  long  after  that  we  were  pushing  the  sale  of  our  sulphuric  acid 
when  a  strange  incident  occurred."  Mr.  Nichols  stopped,  looked 
straight  into  my  face  very  earnestly  and  then  resumed :  "What  is  the 
secret  of  success.?  is  a  question  often  asked. 

"Looking  back  over  my  life  I  can  now  see  clearly  that  there  were 
two  or  three  crucial  points  in  It  and  that  in  each  Instance  the  successful 
outcome  was  due  to  the  practice  of  strict  honesty,  just  doing  the 
plain,  simple,  right  thing,  and  refusing  to  deviate  under  any  circum- 
stances from  the  ordinary  path  of  fairness  and  integrity. 

"My  experience  and  observation  convince  me  that  great  cleverness 


262  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

is  not  necessary;  in  fact,  that  smart  tricks  to  take  advantage  of  either 
competitors  or  customers  or  the  public  cannot  build  up  a  solid,  lasting, 
worth-while  success.  The  Golden  Rule  is  as  applicable  in  business 
as  in  the  church. 

"  If  any  young  man  will  study  hard,  think  hard,  keep  his  eyes  always 
open  for  opportunities,  exercise  all  the  foresight  he  can  cultivate  by 
painstaking  effort,  at  the  same  time  observing  the  strictest  honesty 
and  prudence  in  all  his  doings,  he  cannot  prove  a  failure." 

"What  was  the  sulphuric  acid  incident  you  were  to  tell  me  about?" 
I  asked. 

"When  I  began  making  this  acid,"  said  Mr.  Nichols,  "I  found  that, 
although  all  the  sulphuric  acid  on  the  market  was  labelled  as  66  degrees, 
much  of  it  was  under  strength,  usually  only  65  degrees.  I  made 
mine  66  degrees  and  marked  it  accordingly.  Before  long  I  was  waited 
on  by  a  body  of  my  competitors  who  declared  to  me:  'You  are 
making  a  fool  of  yourself.  You  are  only  a  young  man  and  new  at 
the  business  and  perhaps  that's  why  you  don't  seem  to  know  that  you 
are  incurring  unnecessary  expense  to  yourself  by  making  your  sul- 
phuric acid  66  degrees  when  65  degrees  is  just  as  good.'  I  told  them 
that  if  I  made  65 -degree  acid  I  must  put  '65  degrees*  on  the  package 
and  that  if  I  put  *66'  on  the  package  I  must  make  66-degree  acid. 
They  went  off  very  much  dissatisfied  and  disgruntled. 

"About  this  time  the  process  of  refining  oil  was  discovered  and 
orders  for  sulphuric  poured  in  to  us  faster  than  we  could  fill  them. 
But  though  we  were  swamped  with  demands  for  our  product,  our 
competitors  were  not.  Of  course  they  set  about  finding  out  the  reason 
why  and  they  discovered,  as  the  oil  refiners  had  already  discovered, 
that  65-degree  acid  was  not  strong  enough  for  refining  oil,  whereas 
66-degree  acid  met  every  requirement." 

What  the  world  would  have  done  without  electrolytic  copper  is 
hard  to  conceive.  Moreover,  the  electrolytic  process  has  enabled 
mining  companies  to  redeem  scores  of  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of 
silver  and  gold  which  formerly  ran  to  waste  in  the  smelting  and  re- 
fining of  copper.  How  many  people  know  how  the  electrolytic  pro- 
cess was  born? 

Let  William  H.  Nichols  tell  the  story. 

"I  was  sitting  in  my  office  one  day  when  a  man  named  Davis  came 
in-with  a  piece  of  ore  which  he  asked  me  to  examine.  Having  studied 
metallurgy,  I  saw  it  was  sulphide  of  iron  containing  copper  pyrites. 
'Are  you  interested?'  he  asked.  'Yes,'  I  replied.  'Thank  heaven,' 
he  said,  'for  I  have  been  to  every  other  chemical  works  and  couldn't 
interest  any  of  them  in  it.' 

"We  bought  his  mine,  at  Capelton,  across  the  Canadian  border. 
We  turned  our  attention  to  utilizing  our  by-product  of  copper  cinder 


WILLIAM  H.  NICHOLS  263 

:  and  Dr.  HerreshofF  invented  a  water-jacket  furnace  for  smelting  it 
into  copper  matte.  This  process  was  very  successful  and  we  sent  to 
England  and  Wales,  where  most  of  the  refining  had  been  done,  to  see 
if  we  could  not  introduce  our  new  style  of  furnace  there  at  Swansea. 
They  ridiculed  us,  asking  if  we,  who  had  been  smelting  copper  for  a 
year,  imagined  we  could  do  it  better  than  they  could  do  it  after 
200  years'  experience.  To-day  we  turn  out  more  copper  in  a  month 
than  they  do  in  Swansea  in  a  year. 

"The  copper  industry  at  that  time  did  not  know  how  to  analyze 
copper  correctly.  Many  laboratories  had  wrestled  with  the  problem 
and  as  we  were  now  interested  in  copper  we  also  took  it  up.  Thanks 
chiefly  to  HerreshofF,  we  evolved  what  we  called  the  electrolytic 
process,  which,  as  every  one  now  knows,  not  only  reveals  the  exact 
amount  of  copper  in  matte  or  in  anything  else,  but  liberates  all  the 
gold  and  silver  that  used  to  be  thrown  away  and  produces  a  quality 
of  copper  that  has  made  possible  the  great  advance  in  electricity." 

As  notable  progress  was  made  in  the  copper  field  as  in  the  chemical 
field  by  Dr.  Nichols  and  his  associates.  Their  revolutionary  pro- 
cesses for  smelting,  refining,  and  analyzing  the  metal  brought  them  a 
great  deal  of  custom  from  existing  mines.  They  thus  became  impor- 
tant factors  in  the  selling  of  the  finished  product. 

The  entrance  of  the  Nichols  interests  into  the  refining  of  copper 
came  about  in  a  peculiar  way.  They  had  been  content  before  to  dis- 
pose of  their  product  in  the  form  of  matte  and  had  not  considered  the 
advisability  of  invading  the  smelting  branch  of  the  business.  Curi- 
ously, this  eventful  step  in  Mr.  Nichols's  career  was  likewise  the  result 
of  his  refusal  to  join  others  in  what  he  regarded  as  unfair  or  unwise 
tactics. 

One  day  a  very  influential  New  York  magnate  beckoned  to  Mr. 
Nichols  in  a  downtown  club  and  rather  emphatically  told  him:  "You 
are  not  charging  enough  for  your  copper."  Mr.  Nichols  replied  that 
the  price  he  was  charging  satisfied  him.  "You  are  not  charging  the 
price  others  are  getting,"  the  magnate  declared  and  after  some  further 
parley  presented  this  ultimatum:  "I  see  I  will  have  to  speak  to  you 
rather  strongly.  We  have  an  agreement  on  the  price  of  copper  and 
unless  you  will  agree  to  adhere  to  this  price  I  will  have  to  tell  you, 
very  regretfully,  that  I  will  not  be  able  to  refine  any  more  of  your 
matte." 

The  gentlemen  had  miscalculated  the  timbre  and  the  temperament 
of  William  H.  Nichols.  "You  have  a  perfect  right  to  say  you  will  do 
no  more  refining  for  me,"  he  replied,  "but  you  haven't  the  slightest 
right  to  tell  me  what  I  must  charge  for  my  copper.  I  won't  ask  you 
to  refine  another  pound." 

Dr.  Nichols  walked  over  to  the  newly-installed  telephone,  called 


264  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

HerreshofF,  told  him  to  come  over  to  the  office  and,  on  his  way,  to 
think  about  plans  for  building  a  little  copper  refinery.  Before  the 
sun  went  down  they  had  designed  a  modest  refinery  on  lines  which 
are  being  followed  to  this  day. 

From  that  conversation  sprang  the  Nichols  Copper  Refining  busi- 
ness which  is  now  running  at  the  rate  of  500,000,000  pounds  of  copper 
annually. 

"You  are  not  a  believer,  then,  in  gentlemen's  price-fixing  agree- 
ments .f"'  I  asked. 

"No.  I  had  had  my  lesson  at  the  very  outstart  of  my  business 
career  in  price  agreements  and  even  were  there  no  law  against  it  you 
could  not  drag  me  into  a  price-fixing  agreement  of  any  kind.  I  don't 
think  such  agreements  are  wise.  It  is  better  for  each  one  to  use  his 
own  brains  and  exercise  his  own  intelligence  and  commonsense  in 
conducting  business  in  his  own  way.     It  is  better  also  for  the  public." 

So  rapidly  did  the  Nichols  copper  activities  expand  that  they  over- 
shadowed the  original  chemical  enterprise  as  the  latter  had  ceased 
to  be  pushed  ahead  with  the  old-time  vigour.  But  Dr.  Nichols,  at 
heart  a  chemist  and  a  scientist,  determined,  while  enjoying  the  solitude 
and  leisure  of  a  vacation  at  his  place  in  The  Thousand  Islands,  to 
formulate  plans  that  would  enable  him  to  do  full  justice  in  the  sphere 
which,  as  a  lad,  he  had  chosen. 

The  General  Chemical  Company  was  then  conceived.  So,  too,  was 
the  Nichols  [Copper  Company.  By  separating  his  chemical  and  his 
copper  interests,  organizations  could  be  built  up  to  handle  both  with 
greater  vigour,  greater  efficiency,  and  on  a  greater  scale.  The  plan 
has  worked  out  admirably. 

The  General  Chemical  Company  is  the  largest  of  its  kind  here  or 
abroad.  Its  products  are  heavy  chemicals;  fuming  sulphuric,  muria- 
tic, and  nitric  acids,  sodas  of  many  varieties  including  sulphite,  bisul- 
phite, and  phosphates,  as  well  as  alum  in  vast  quantity.  Chemicals 
enter  into  the  very  warp  and  woof  of  our  industrial  fabric — into  tex- 
tiles, silk,  paper,  water  filtration,  and  every  industry. 

Mr.  Nichols  was  the  first  in  this  country  to  tackle  the  manufacture 
of  aniline  oils.  During  a  visit  to  Germany,  where  coal-tar  dyes  were 
being  manufactured  in  large  quantity,  he  decided  to  experiment,  on 
his  return  home,  but  was  assured  by  his  German  friends  that  by- 
products of  American  coke  ovens  could  not  be  utilized  for  this  pur- 
pose, as  our  coal  was  not  of  the  right  kind.  Mr.  Nichols  persisted, 
and  built  a  plant  which  produced  a  thousand  tons  a  year  of  excellent 
aniline  oil.  But  the  Germans  cut  the  price  so  drastically  that  it  was 
impossible  to  compete  with  them.  Congress  did  not  then  realize  the 
astuteness  and  far-sightedness  of  the  German  manoeuvre.  Germany 
well  knew  that  no  stable  smokeless  powder  could  be  made  without 


WILLIAM  H.  NICHOLS  265 

the  product  of  an  aniline  oil  plant.  The  deficiency  has  since  been  well 
remedied,  America  having  become  not  only  self-supporting,  but  an 
exporter  of  aniline  oil  and  other  chemicals  won  from  by-products  of 
coal. 

Mr.  Nichols  is  a  staunch  believer  in  cooperation,  not  with  competi- 
tors, but  with  his  own  workers.  Many  of  his  men  have  been  with 
him  a  full  generation — some  for  almost  forty  years.  Many  years  ago 
he  became  a  pioneer  in  sharing  profits  with  his  employees.  In  1916 
over  ^1,500,000  was  distributed  as  "extra  compensation  to  workmen 
and  staff  based  upon  profits."  Mr.  Nichols's  attitude  toward  workers 
has  always  been  inspiied  as  much  by  his  sense  of  humanity,  his  belief 
in  the  essential  brotherhood  of  man,  as  by  cool,  calculating  business 
considerations,  although,  of  course,  his  experience  has  taught  him,  as 
it  has  taught  other  employers,  that  it  is  profitable  to  treat  employees 
generously  and  thoughtfully.  A  small  corps  of  picked  men  do  noth- 
ing but  look  after  the  well-being  of  the  workers. 

All  the  activities  for  betterment  of  the  condition  of  the  workers 
are  handled  by  the  men  themselves.  They  make  their  own  rules  and 
by-laws  for  their  associations,  conduct  their  own  clubs,  arrange  their 
own  interworks  baseball,  football,  and  other  matches.  Boxing  bouts 
and  wrestling  contests  between  champions  in  the  different  plants 
excite  the  keenest  of  interest.  The  same  spirit  of  healthy,  stimulating 
rivalry  enters  into  the  constant  campaign  for  greater  safety.  The 
company  awards  annually  a  very  substantial  sum  to  the  force  which 
keeps  its  plant  going  with  the  least  loss  of  time  through  accidents — 
it  was  won  in  1917  by  a  Canadian  plant  and  the  men  donated  a  large 
part  of  the  money  prize  to  a  national  war  relief  fund.  The  spirit  of 
patriotism  is  inculcated  consistently  into  all  the  workmen,  who  salute 
each  morning  the  Stars  and  Stripes  which  floats  over  every  plant  of 
the  General  Chemical  Company. 

His  kindness  to  his  men  once  placed  Dr.  Nichols  in  a  predicament 
which  caused  him  deep  mortification.  The  head  of  one  of  the  con- 
cern's largest  customers  came  to  him  and  complained  that  he  had 
been  systematically  cheated  by  short-weighing  of  carboys  containing 
acid.  Dr.  Nichols  could  not  believe  the  allegation,  but  on  going  to 
the  consumer's  plant  fifty  carboys  were  weighed  and  each  was  found 
ten  pounds  short.     He  promised  to  make  an  immediate  investigation. 

An  Irishman  was  pointed  out  to  Dr.  Nichols  as  the  man  responsible 
for  seeing  that  every  carboy  contained  the  proper  quantity  of  acid. 
This  employee  Dr.  Nichols  would  have  trusted  with  his  own  money. 
But,  when  questioned,  he  coloured  up  and  stammered.  Finally  he 
blurted  out: 

"Mr.  Nichols,  the  boys  is  very  fond  of  you  and  we  wanted  to  help 
you." 


266  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

That  anecdote  will  obviate  the  necessity  for  entering  into  details  of 
all  that  the  General  Chemical  and  the  Nichols  Copper  Company  do 
for  their  workers. 

There  are  some  Americans  better  known  abroad  than  among  their 
own  countrymen.  These  are  men  of  real  achievement,  men  who 
have  accomplished  things  of  international  Importance  but  who  have 
not  advertised  themselves  by  brass-band  methods.  Dr.  Nichols  is 
such  a  man.  I  recently  read  in  a  French  paper  a  reference  to  him  as 
"the  scientist  and  chemist  known  all  over  the  world."  And  it  is 
even  so.  Honours  have  been  conferred  upon  him  by  royalty,  by 
great  scientific  and  chemical  organizations,  and  by  universities.  He 
was  elected  president,  in  1912,  of  the  International  Congress  of 
Applied  Chemistry,  the  largest  congress  of  chemistry  in  the  world, 
while  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry  of  Great  Britain  paid  him  a 
similar  honour.  He  is  a  charter  member  of  the  American  Chemical 
Society  which  now  has  9,000  members  in  New  York  and  which  was 
founded  with  only  fifty  members,  of  which  only  two  others  survive. 
King  Emmanuel  decorated  him  with  the  Order  of  Commendatore 
of  the  Crown  of  Italy,  an  honour  enjoyed  by  only  one  or  two  other 
Americans.  He  is  an  honorary  LL.D.  of  Lafayette  College  and  an 
Sc.D.  of  Columbia  University. 

Unlike  many  busy  business  leaders.  Dr.  Nichols  has  found  time  to 
render  many  years  of  constructive  service  in  church  and  educational 
fields.  As  chairman  of  the  trustees  of  the  Clinton  Avenue  Congre- 
gational Church  of  Brooklyn  and  as  president  of  the  Congregational 
Church  Extension  Society,  he  has  been  an  invaluable  force  in  foi-ward- 
ing  religious  and  benevolent  movements.  The  Polytechnic  Institute 
of  Brooklyn,  from  which  Mr.  Nichols  graduated  in  1868 — he  was 
born  in  Brooklyn  on  January  9,  1852 — owes  its  present  robustness  to 
him  more  than  to  any  other  individual.  It  was  a  small,  struggling, 
moribund  organization  when  he  accepted  the  chairmanship,  whereas 
it  now  has  between  800  and  900  students  and  is  preparing  to  double 
its  capacity.     Also,  it  is  now  self-supporting. 

Mr.  Nichols  began  life  with  the  advantages  of  a  superb  physique 
inherited  from  ancestors  first  of  Norman  and  then  English  stock 
until  the  earliest  days  of  America,  an  excellent  home  training  from  a 
Quaker  mother  and  a  well-to-do  father  of  high  business  standing  and 
a  thorough  education.  On  leaving  Brooklyn  "Poly."  he  entered 
Cornell,  then  just  founded  as  a  semi-military  institution.  Young 
Nichols  soon  became  captain  of  a  company  of  students  but  was  im- 
plicated in  the  hazing  of  a  youth  for  ungentlemanly  conduct.  The 
authorities  offered  him  full  immunity  if  he  would  reveal  the  names  of 
the  others  taking  part,  a  suggestion  he  indignantly  scorned.  He  was 
expelled,  of  course,  but  the  train  on  which  he  departed  was  held  until 


WILLIAM  H.  NICHOLS  267 

every  student  of  the  university  could  file  past  and  shake  hands  with 
him! 

Dr.  Nichols  married  Miss  Hannah  W.  Bensel  in  1873  and  they 
have  a  daughter,  Mrs.  M.  O.  Forster  of  London,  and  two  sons  who 
are  making  their  mark  in  the  industrial  w^orld.  William  H.  Nichols, 
Jr.,  is  president  of  the  General  Chemical  Company  (his  father  being 
now  chairman  of  the  Board)  while  C.  Walter  Nichols  is  president  of 
the  Nichols  Copper  Company.  In  handling  men  and  in  conducting 
business,  both  are  exhibiting  inherited  qualities  of  generalship. 


JOHN  H.  PATTERSON 

JOHN  H.  PATTERSON  devotes  his  life  to  building  cash  regis- 
ters and  making  workers  happy. 
Few  employers  who  have  made  millions  have  chosen  to 
spend  the  best  part  of  these  millions  on  their  own  employees.  Many 
build  themselves  palaces,  line  them  with  costly  pictures  and  bric-a- 
brac,  spend  money  lavishly  and  ostentatiously  for  their  own  diversion, 
doing  little  for  the  benefit  of  any  one  but  themselves.  Even  philan- 
thropically  inclined  millionaires  have  rarely  given  first  consideration 
to  those  who  helped  them  to  make  their  riches.  It  is  more  spectacular 
to  build  halls,  to  proclaim  large  gifts  to  this  or  that  organization,  to 
strut  into  the  limelight  and  do  something  calculated  to  win  plaudits 
from  the  public  than  to  do  worth-while  things  inside  one's  own  fac- 
tory and  give  one's  self  to  the  daily  task  of  brightening  the  lives  of 
labourers,  artisans,  stenographers,  and  other  unromantic  employees. 

John  H.  Patterson  has  chosen  the  more  prosaic  course.  He  has 
made  of  a  factory  and  its  environment  a  thing  of  beauty.  He  has 
put  joy  into  work.  He  has  made  the  earning  of  a  living  harmonize 
with  the  earning  of  happiness. 

The  workshop  of  the  National  Cash  Register  Company,  at  Dayton, 
O.,  is  a  glass  palace  flooded  with  light.  Through  its  thousands  of 
windows  the  workers  can  feast  their  eyes  on  exquisite  views.  The  air 
throughout  all  the  buildings  is  changed  every  fifteen  minutes.  Hun- 
dreds of  shower  baths  are  provided,  and  every  worker  is  allowed  to 
enjoy  them  in  the  company's  time.  Of  course,  there  is  a  hospital 
with  a  doctor  and  trained  nurses  in  attendance;  employees  receive 
electric  massage  treatment  free  of  cost;  there  are  numerous  rest  rooms 
for  women  employees.  To  avoid  the  overcrowding  of  street  cars  and 
elevators  and  to  save  the  women  from  having  to  mingle  unceremo- 
niously with  the  men,'the  former  are  allowed  to  start  work  half-an-hour 
after  the  men  and  to  finish  fifteen  minutes  before  them.  At  ten  every 
forenoon  and  at  three  every  afternoon  recesses  are  granted  the  women 
workers.  The  commodious  dining  rooms  furnish  midday  meals  at 
cost  and  an  orchestra  regales  the  diners  with  sprightly  music. 

Every  noon  hour  a  moving  picture  or  other  entertainment  is  pro- 
vided in  a  hall  which  seats  1,250,  and  here  those  who  bring  their  own 
lunches  may  sit  and  eat  while  enjoying  the  pictures,  the  music,  and, 
occasionally,  short  talks.     The  men  are  given  the  privilege  of  smoking. 

268 


JOHN  H.  PATTERSON 


JOHN  H.  PATTERSON  269 

By  an  arrangement  with  high  schools  and  colleges,  vocation  training 
is  provided  promising  youths. 

Not  one  acre  of  Mr.  Patterson's  extensive  estate,  Hills  and  Dales, 
is  reserved  for  his  exclusive  use;  every  square  yard  of  it  is  thrown  wide 
open  to  his  employees  and  to  the  public.  There  is  not  a  fence  or  a 
locked  gate  on  the  whole  place.  Instead,  it  is  dotted  with  quaint, 
rustic  camps  where  all  sorts  of  paraphernalia  is  provided  free  for 
picnic  parties — cooking  utensils,  tables,  benches,  even  flour  and  waffle 
machines  and  distilled  water. 

A  golf  course,  tennis  courts,  baseball  field,  and  other  facilities  for 
recreation  are  provided,  while  a  large  club  house  permits  of  dances 
being  held  on  Saturday  evenings  and  all  sorts  of  concerts,  lectures, 
and  entertainments  throughout  the  week.  There  is  another  club 
house  in  the  city  for  the  use  of  employees,  and  here  largely  attended 
educational  classes  are  held  in  the  winter  months. 

Mr.  Patterson  is  a  sunshine  worshipper.  He  enjoys  nature — enjoys 
it  so  much  that  he  wants  every  one  around  him  to  enjoy  it  also. 

Any  worker  who  offers  a  feasible  suggestion  for  improving  anything 
at  the  factory  or  elsewhere  is  rewarded,  "Suggestion  Boxes"  having 
been  in  use  for  many  years. 

When  he  started,  over  twenty  years  ago,  to  treat  workers  like 
human  beings,  other  employers  called  him  a  fool,  a  fanatic,  a  socialist, 
a  dreamer.  They  warned  him  that  coddling  labour  would  bring  him 
nothing  but  discontent  and  disaster,  but  he  contended  that,  unless 
employers  showed  the  working  people  greater  consideration,  grave 
trouble  would  arise  sooner  or  later. 

How  he  came  to  adopt  the  revolutionary  plan  of  cooperating  with 
instead  of  coercing  labour  is  interesting. 

His  action  was  originally  prompted  more  by  business  necessity 
than  by  sentiment.  Previously  he  had  followed  the  universal  rule  of 
getting  from  his  employees  the  greatest  amount  of  work  for  the  least 
amount  of  money,  and  they  had  reciprocated  by  giving  the  least 
amount  of  work  for  the  greatest  amount  of  money  they  could  obtain. 

Let  us  first  trace  briefly  the  record  of  John  H.  Patterson  and  the 
making  of  cash  registers  before  this  turning  point  was  reached. 

There  were  no  cash  registers  when  John  Henry  Patterson  was  born 
— December  13,  1844.  His  forbears  were  Scots-Irish,  the  first  to 
come  to  America  (about  1728)  having  been  his  great-grandfather, 
whose  son  fought  as  a  colonel  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  founded  the 
city  of  Lexington,  Ky.,  became  one  of  the  three  original  owners  of  the 
land  now  covered  by  Cincinnati,  and  finally  located  on  a  2,ocx)-acre 
farm  near  Dayton.  Here  John  Henry  was  born,  almost  on  the  spot 
now  occupied  by  the  National  Cash  Register  Company.  As  a  lad, 
one  of  eight  children,  he  had  to  work  hard  on  the  farm.     He  received 


270  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

a  good  education,  first  in  the  Dayton  schools  and  later  at  Miami 
University  and  Dartmouth  College,  where  he  graduated  B.A.  in  1867, 
having  previously  served  in  the  Civil  War  as  a  Hundred  Day  Man, 
although  then  only  a  stripling. 

Farm  labour  had  little  attraction  for  the  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Com- 
merce appealed  to  him  most,  but  he  could  not  pick  and  choose  jobs. 
Collecting  tolls  on  the  Miami  &  Erie  Canal,  on  duty  night  and  day, 
Sundays  and  hoHdays,  was  the  best  he  could  land.  But  this  was  not 
commerce.  He  wanted  to  buy  and  sell  things.  Having  saved  a 
little  money,  he  succeeded  in  borrowing  a  little  more  and  set  up  as  a 
retail  coal  dealer  in  Dayton.  From  selling  coal  he  gravitated  to 
mining  coal  and  iron  ore,  in  partnership  with  his  brother,  Frank,  in 
Jackson  County,  some  eighty  miles  from  Dayton. 

To  enable  their  miners  to  obtain  supplies,  the  Pattersons,  in  con- 
junction with  two  other  mining  concerns,  opened  a  store.  Business 
was  plentiful  but  profits  were  nil.  At  the  end  of  two  years  the  store 
had  not  netted  a  cent,  notwithstanding  that  all  goods  were  supposed 
to  be  sold  on  a  reasonable  margin  of  profit.  There  was  a  leak  some- 
where. 

From  his  militant  grandfather,  who  by  profession  was  a  civil  en- 
gineer, Mr.  Patterson  had  inherited  a  mania  for  doing  things  with 
scrupulous  accuracy  and  precision;  nothing  slipshod,  nothing  faulty, 
nothing  careless  could  be  tolerated.  Everything  must  be  done  just 
so.  The  mysterious  mismanagement  of  the  store  worried  him.  It 
must  be  run  down  and  eliminated. 

Hearing  that  a  merchant  in  Dayton  had  invented  a  contrivance  to 
keep  a  record  of  all  sales,  Mr.  Patterson  immediately  telegraphed  for 
two  of  the  novel  machines.  The  idea  of  the  cash  register  had  taken 
birth  in  1879,  in  the  brain  of  Jacob  Ritty,  a  Dayton  merchant  who, 
suffering  from  a  breakdown  due  to  overwork  and  worry  in  attempting 
to  keep  tabs  on  the  details  of  his  business,  had  started  on  a  voyage  to 
Europe.  While  in  the  engine  room  of  the  ship  one  day,  he  noticed  a 
device  that  recorded  the  number  of  revolutions  of  the  propeller  shaft. 
Why  not  construct  a  machine  that  would  record  each  coin  put  in  the 
till?  Hurrying  back,  he  set  to  work  with  his  brother,  a  skilled  me- 
chanic, and  evolved  the  first  cash  register. 

Mr.  Patterson's  was  the  first  order  filled.  Crude  and  clumsy  though 
it  was,  the  machine  immediately  turned  the  store's  loss  into  a  sub- 
stantial profit.  Mr.  Patterson's  commercial  instinct  told  him  that 
the  new  invention  had  unlimited  possibilities.  "What  is  good  for 
our  store  is  good  for  every  store  in  the  world,"  he  told  himself.  At 
the  first  opportunity  he  went  to  Dayton,  investigated  the  situation 
thoroughly  and,  although  only  a  few  machines  had  been  turned  out, 
he  was  so  certain  of  the  outlook  that  in  1884  he  bought  out  the  Ritty 


JOHN  H.  PATTERSON  271 

business  and  changed  the  name  from  the  National  Manufacturing 
Company  to  the  National  Cash  Register  Company. 

The  acorn  did  not  at  once  grow  into  an  oak.  Troubles  and  obsta- 
cles were  met  at  every  turn.  Construction  of  the  cash  registers  de- 
manded highly  skilled  and  scrupulously  careful  workmanship  of  a 
novel  kind.  It  was  difficult  first  to  teach  the  workers  and  then  to 
retain  them,  as  their  expert  services  were  sought  by  others.  The 
factory  was  located  in  an  unsavoury  section  of  Dayton  called  Slider- 
town — everybody  and  everything  on  the  down  grade  had  a  habit  of 
sliding  into  this  section.  To  work  at  "The  Cash"  did  not  bring  a 
high  social  rating;  in  plain  language,  the  better  class  of  young  men 
and  particularly  young  women  preferred  to  earn  a  living  in  more 
respectable  surroundings. 

John  H.  Patterson  was  partly  to  blame  for  this  unsatisfactory  state 
of  affairs.  He  was  not  then  a  model  employer.  He  was  neither 
better  nor  worse  than  other  factory  owners.  His  interest  in  his 
employees  was  confined  to  what  he  could  get  out  of  them.  And  they 
repaid  him  in  kind.     Poor  working  conditions  begot  a  poor  product. 

So  bad,  indeed,  did  things  become  that  in  one  year  $50,000  worth 
of  machines  was  thrown  back  on  the  hands  of  the  company  as  faulty. 

Then  John  H.  Patterson  woke  up. 

He  experienced  not  only  a  change  of  viewpoint,  but  he  underwent  a 
change  of  heart.  Adversity  had  taught  him  humanity.  Why  should 
workers  treat  him  with  more  consideration  than  he  was  treating  them? 
Why  should  they  interest  themselves  in  his  welfare  if  he  was  not  in- 
terested in  theirs?  He  would  adopt  a  new  policy.  Also,  he  installed 
his  own  desk  in  the  centre  of  the  factory  floor. 

With  this  new  spirit  in  his  heart,  he  went  to  the  factory  to  study 
conditions.  He  saw  a  woman  engaged,  as  he  thought,  in  mixing 
glue  in  a  very  unscientific  way.  He  spoke  to  her.  "It's  not  glue, 
it's  coffee,"  she  told  him.  Leavings  from  the  previous  day  were 
being  reconcocted. 

Mr.  Patterson  immediately  ordered  the  manager  to  arrange  to  have 
the  women  supplied  with  good  coffee  every  day.  He  next  looked 
around  for  other  things  needing  correction.  Not  noticing  any  pro- 
vision for  the  proper  serving  of  the  coffee,  he  summoned  the  manager, 
who  gave  him  a  dozen  reasons  why  the  factory  could  not  be  turned 
into  a  coffee  house.  Mr.  Patterson  ordered  him  to  rent  a  house  across 
the  street  for  the  purpose.  Again  there  was  delay.  This  time  the 
manager  and  his  assistants  were  told  that  dismissal  would  follow 
were  the  reform  not  instituted  forthwith. 

The  serving  of  the  coffee  had  an  instantaneous  effect  upon  the  out- 
put of  the  women.  Patterson  learned  that  kindness  paid  in  dollars 
as  well  as  in  disposition.     From  that  day  on  he  never  wavered  in  his 


272  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERCIA 

determination  to  improve  the  lot  of  his  people.  One  thoughtful 
innovation  after  another  was  introduced  and  a  systematic  effort  was 
made  to  raise  the  quality  and  tone  of  the  working  force. 

Better  workmanship  and  better  product  brought  increased  business. 
Sales  increased  from  a  few  thousand  a  year  to  several  score  thousands. 
Larger  buildings  became  necessary.  Slidertown  had  been  cleaned  up 
somewhat  under  Mr.  Patterson's  influence,  but  it  was  still  no  Newport 
or  Tuxedo.  Mr.  Patterson  next  bought  up  much  of  the  property 
in  the  neighbourhood  and  resolved  to  spend  both  money  and  time  in 
revolutionizing  the  whole  neighbourhood. 

Most  important  of  all,  he  engaged  the  leading  firm  of  architects 
in  America  to  design  a  factory  building  which  would  be  the  very  an- 
tithesis of  the  ordinary  factory.  He  wanted  it  to  contain  every  con- 
ceivable appointment  conducive  to  the  comfort  and  safety  of  the 
workers.  He  wanted,  also,  halls  for  noonday  entertainment,  for  the 
holding  of  classes,  for  illustrated  lessons  and  lectures  on  the  different 
phases  of  manufacturing  the  cash  register,  and  on  salesmanship. 

When  the  glass  and  steel  palace  began  to  be  erected  Dayton  shook 
its  head.  Among  other  things,  Patterson  was  told  that  the  boys  of 
Slidertown  would  not  leave  one  whole  window  overnight,  that  new 
glass  would  cost  him  more  than  his  profits.  Patterson  took  the  boys 
in  hand  and  began  to  transform  embryonic  gangsters  into  young 
gardeners  and  young  gentlemen.  The  boys  were  given  individual 
gardens,  received  instruction  from  a  head  gardener,  were  shown  how 
to  organize  themselves  into  a  stock  company,  were  inspired  to  interest 
themselves  in  the  work,  received  prizes  and,  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
were  paid  dividends  from  products  sold.  The  company  was  run  en- 
tirely by  the  boys  themselves.  Also,  a  club  was  formed  to  send  city 
lads  to  work  on  farms  during  summer  vacations.  This  solved  the 
window-breaking  problem — and  solved,  also,  problems  of  more  vital 
importance  to  the  boys  and  to  society. 

Patterson's  "coddling"  of  labour  was  bitterly  resented  by  other 
employers.  They  reasoned  that  the  best  type  of  workers  would  prefer 
to  secure  positions  with  the  Cash  Register  Company.  They  also 
feared  that  labour  would  become  discontented,  not  to  say  obstreper- 
ous. Still  he  went  ahead,  convinced  that  he  was  on  the  right  track  and 
that  one  day  his  example  would  have  to  be  followed.  The  more 
he  did  for  the  happiness  of  those  around  him  the  more  fun  he  got  out 
of  it. 

His  enormous  new  plant,  however,  was  costing  a  mint  of  money. 
So  were  grounds  he  had  bought  for  the  use  of  his  workers  and  others. 
The  rapid  expansion  of  his  business — in  two  years  he  sold  as  many 
machines  as  he  had  sold  in  the  previous  twenty-two  years — necessi- 
tated the  tying  up  of  extensive  capital. 


JOHN  H.  PATTERSON  273 

Like  a  thunderbolt  came  the  announcement  from  the  bankers  that 
he  must  pay  off  loans.  Not  a  dollar  could  he  obtain  from  any  bank 
in  Dayton.  This,  Patterson's  critics  and  enemies  chuckled,  would 
put  a  quietus  to  his  welfare  capers. 

It  almost  did.  Patterson,  however,  was  a  born  fighter.  He  also 
was  a  philosopher.  **Thrice  armed  is  he  who  hath  his  quarrel  just," 
he  reassured  himself.  It  was  a  timeof  tight  money,  and  outside  banks 
were  indifferent  or  worse.  Finally,  however,  a  New  England  finan- 
cier sent  a  representative  to  Dayton  to  analyze  conditions.  He 
learned  the  cause  of  the  trouble  and  he  learned  also  that  the  Patterson 
brothers  were  men  of  unimpeachable  character,  of  indefatigable  in- 
dustry, of  indomitable  will,  and  that  they  were  conducting  a  growing, 
profitable  business.  All  this  appealed  to  him  and  he  offered  to  lend 
them  several  times  the  amount  they  had  asked.  Had  the  character 
of  the  Pattersons  not  withstood  the  searching  test,  the  history  of  the 
National  Cash  Register  Company  might  have  ended  disastrously. 

Mr.  Patterson's  activities  on  behalf  of  his  employees  multiplied. 
Slidertown  began  to  blossom.  Besides  the  boy  club  gardeners, 
grown-ups  in  the  neighbourhood  became  so  greatly  enamoured  of  the 
beautiful  that,  under  consistent  encouragement,  they  began  to  spruce 
up  their  homes  and  to  surround  them  with  flowers  and  lawns. 

Mr.  Patterson  also  worked  laboriously  and  against  much  discour- 
agement to  arouse  the  citizens  of  Dayton  to  make  of  it  "The  City 
Beautiful."  He  threw  himself  enthusiastically  into  reforming  the 
administration  of  the  city,  then  politics-ridden,  not  to  say  corrupted. 
Like  most  reformers,  he  made  enemies. 

Nor  did  he  wholly  escape  the  trouble  with  workers  which  other 
employers  had  predicted.  During  a  period  of  acute  labour  unrest 
throughout  the  country,  whisperings  began  to  be  heard  that  a  section 
of  the  Cash  Register  workmen  were  to  strike.  Mr.  Patterson's  kind- 
ness had  been  misinterpreted  as  weakness.  Some  of  the  men  wanted 
to  become  masters  of  the  establishment.  They  imagined  they  could 
do  as  they  pleased,  that  Mr.  Patterson  would  submit  to  anything. 
He  had  made  one  mistake  in  the  treatment  of  his  workers;  some 
of  the  privileges,  such  as  taking  baths  and  attending  certain  of  the 
entertainments  provided,  were  made  compulsory.  This  form  of 
paternalism,  naturally,  was  resented.  Mr.  Patterson,  however,  saw 
his  mistake  and  rectified  it. 

On  learning  that  a  strike  was  to  be  called  by  a  part  of  the  workmen, 
he  assembled  the  whole  force,  explained  that  he  understood  some  of 
them  were  dissatisfied,  told  them  he  himself  was  not  wholly  pleased 
with  the  way  things  were  going,  and  announced  that  a  rest  would 
probably  do  them  and  him  good.  He  closed  the  whole  works  without 
intimating  when  they  would  be  re-opened  and  then  went  travelling. 


274  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

At  first  the  prospective  strikers  were  jubilant  over  their  "victory." 
Within  a  fortnight,  however,  other  classes  of  employees  began  to 
criticise  the  malcontents.  Another  week  passed,  and  still  no  intima- 
tion of  re-opening.  Inquiries  began  to  be  made  as  to  when  work 
would  be  resumed.  No  comforting  information  was  forthcoming. 
At  the  end  of  a  month  things  began  to  be  made  unpleasant  for  those 
responsible  for  the  shut-down.  Petitions  began  to  be  sent  Mr. 
Patterson  to  come  back  and  open  the  gates.  But  not  until  two  months 
had  passed  did  he  announce  that  he  would  return  to  Dayton  although 
he  let  it  be  known  that  he  had  been  invited  to  locate  his  works  at  other 
more  convenient  points. 

The  whole  city  prepared  to  give  Mr.  Patterson  a  welcome  home  with 
brass  bands,  public  receptions,  complimentary  dinners,  and  laudatory 
speeches.  Sober  reflection  had  convinced  the  citizens  that  Dayton 
could  not  afford  to  lose  Patterson. 

He  would  have  none  of  their  joyful  reception.  Instead,  he  replied 
by  outlining  a  long  list  of  things  Dayton  citizens  ought  to  do  to  make 
their  city  more  attractive,  more  efficient,  and  more  healthful. 

He  re-opened  the  works  and  there  was  not  another  murmur  of  a 
strike,  and  since  then  he  has  had  no  trouble  with  labour.  The  true 
worth  of  his  work  for  his  employees  and  for  Dayton  was  grasped 
during  the  period  there  were  fears  that  Dayton  would  lose  both  him 
and  his  plant,  thus  emptying  thousands  of  pay  envelopes  weekly. 

When  operations  were  resumed  the  demand  for  National  Cash 
Registers  increased  enormously.  Mr.  Patterson's  system  of  training 
salesmen  was  bearing  fruit.  Every  employee  was  filled  with  ambition 
to  do  his  or  her  best.  National  Registers,  pushed  with  redoubled 
energy,  were  driving  others  from  the  field.  The  enthusiasm  of  the 
salesmen  sometimes  outran  their  discretion. 

When  the  national  mania  for  trust  busting  swept  across  the  land 
the  Government  did  not  overlook  the  National  Cash  Register  Com- 
pany. Was  it  not  rapidly  becoming  almost  a  monopoly  ?  Patterson's 
reply  to  that  was  that  he  owned  the  basic  patents  for  cash  registers 
and  that  he  was  entitled  to  fight  competitors  both  legally  and  com- 
mercially. Fight  them  he  did  without  mercy.  Into  the  rights  and 
wrongs  of  the  Government's  prosecution  I  cannot  here  enter.  A  lower 
court  sentenced  a  number  of  the  officers  and  responsible  employees  of 
the  company  to  a  year's  imprisonment,  but  this  verdict  was  quashed 
by  the  higher  court.  The  Government  did  not  drop  the  matter, 
but  started  to  prosecute  the  company  under  the  civil  section  of  the 
Sherman  Law,  and  rather  than  continue  at  loggerheads  with  the 
Administration  for  another  year  or  two,  demoralizing  the  whole  or- 
ganization, Mr.  Patterson  was  induced  to  plead  guilty  to  the  technical 
charge  of  "conspiring"  to  build  up  a  monopoly,  a  business  policy 


JOHN  H.  PATTERSON  275 

which  Mr.  Patterson  had  all  along  contended  he  was  entitled  to  follow 
by  reason  of  his  exclusive  patent  rights. 

Mr.  Patterson  declared  to  me  that  only  the  consciousness  that  he 
was  doing  constructive  work  and  setting  an  example  to  other  em- 
ployers in  the  treatment  of  workmen  impelled  him  to  struggle  on 
against  both  labour  and  governmental  obstacles  after  he  had  all  the 
money  he  needed  for  his  personal  and  family  requirements. 

To  the  American  public  the  crowning  achievement  of  John  H. 
Patterson  was  that  which  won  him  the  title  "The  Saviour  of  Day- 
ton," on  that  memorable  day  and  night  of  March  25-26,  1913,  when 
the  greater  part  of  the  city  was  floodswept  and  laid  under  as  much  as 
seventeen  feet  of  water. 

It  was  Patterson  who,  hours  before  the  flood  came,  by  telephone, 
by  telegraph,  by  horseback,  by  automobile,  by  foot  messenger,  by 
every  means  of  communication  that  could  be  impressed,  aroused  the 
whole  city  to  its  impending  danger  and  gave  instructions  how  to  pre- 
pare for  the  coming  avalanche  of  w^ater.  It  was  Patterson,  too,  who 
summoned  his  executive  and  other  force  to  Industrial  Hall,  mounted 
the  stage,  and  showing  his  famous  pyramidical  chart  illustrating  the 
organization  of  the  company,  announced:  "I  declare  the  National 
Cash  Register  Company  out  of  commission  and  I  proclaim  the  Citi- 
zens' Relief  Association."  With  a  piece  of  charcoal  he  sketched  a  dia- 
gram of  the  Relief  Association,  naming  a  head  for  each  division  of  the 
work  and  instructing  them  how  to  proceed. 

From  the  Patterson  factory  came  rafts  and  boats — constructed  of 
materials  taken  from  his  immense  lumber  yards — at  the  rate  of  one 
every  seven  minutes. 

By  common  assent  Patterson  became  the  acknowledged  dictator  of 
the  whole  rescue  work.  Never  did  military  generals  direct  forces 
with  more  skill,  with  more  rapidity,  or  to  more  effect.  So  brilliantly 
did  he  command  that  when  General  Wood,  commander  of  the  U.  S. 
Army,  and  Secretary  of  War  Garrison  rushed  to  the  scene  and  viewed 
the  functioning  of  the  Patterson  emergency  machine  they  announced: 
"We  can  do  nothing  beyond  what  you  are  doing." 

A  faint  glimmer  of  what  Dayton  underwent  may  be  derived  from 
the  fact  that  in  one  improvised  maternity  hospital  twenty-nine  chil- 
dren were  born  during  that  terrible  night. 

To  describe  John  H.  Patterson's  personality  would  require  pages. 
His  business  methods  and  his  whole  mode  of  life  are  novel.  His  brain 
works  night  and  day.  At  his  bedside  are  pencil  and  pad  on  which 
he  commits  ideas  the  instant  they  enter  his  head.  To  his  secretary 
he  dictates  dozens  of  orders  every  morning  to  be  transmitted  to  heads 
of  diflPerent  departments.  These  orders  are  pasted  on  large  charts, 
one  for  each  department,  and  not  until  an  instruction  has  been  carried 


2/6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

out  is  a  broad  red  line  drawn  through  it.  By  turning  the  charts,  con- 
structed Hke  swinging  doors,  Mr.  Patterson  can  see  at  a  glance  any 
order  that  has  not  been  obeyed.  I  noticed  one  without  a  red  line 
although  it  dated  back  several  months.  It  read:  "Make  nine-hole 
golf  course  into  eighteen-hole  golf  course."     I  remarked  upon  it. 

"That  is  now  being  done,"  I  was  informed — an  eighteen-hole  golf 
course  for  the  use  primarily  of  Mr.  Patterson's  employees. 

He  is  an  originator  and  an  admirer  of  mottoes  and  his  whole  plant 
is  hung  with  placards  of  wisdom  and  inspiration.  These  are  fre- 
quently changed. 

Mr. Patterson  rises  regularly  at  6:30,  indulges  in  a  glass  of  hot  water 
for  breakfast,  works  like  a  battering  ram  until  noon,  lunches  on  some 
fruit  or  vegetables,  takes  a  nap  for  a  couple  of  hours,  and  spends  the 
remainder  of  the  day  as  his  fancy  dictates.  For  dinner  he  eats  nuts, 
fruits,  and  vegetables.  For  years  he  has  not  tasted  meat  or  fish  or 
fowl.  His  home  is  a  quaint,  unpretentious,  old-fashioned,  delightful 
place  on  the  top  of  a  hill  overlooking  the  plant  and  was  formerly  owned 
by  his  ancestors.  He  has  a  grown-up  son  and  daughter,  who  are  both 
interested  in  their  father's  activities.  Until  her  recent  marriage, 
the  daughter  had  an  office  at  the  factory  and  directed  the  welfare 
work  of  the  women's  department. 

Almost  singlehanded  John  H.  Patterson,  following  the  flood, 
reorganized  the  civic  administration  of  Dayton.  The  City  Manager 
plan  instituted  there  has  been  notably  successful — but  how  long 
politics  and  politicians  can  be  held  at  arm's  length  is  a  question.  One 
indisputable  fact  is  that  Dayton  is  now  better  governed  than  ever 
before  and  that  the  taxpayers  receive  larger  value  for  their  money. 
Mr.  Patterson,  diplomatically,  does  not  try  to  dominate  or  domineer 
the  administration,  having  learned  by  experience  that  able-bodied 
citizens  of  a  free  republic  abhor  even  the  most  benevolent  efforts  of 
that  kind.  Nevertheless  his  influence,  his  example,  and  his  ideals 
have  been  a  potent  factor  in  elevating  the  conduct  of  the  city's  affairs. 
Indeed,  he  has  been  the  thinker  and  inspirer  in  all  such  activities  as 
industrial  welfare,  public  recreation,  and  cooperative  health  promo- 
tion. To  a  seer's  vision  he  has  wedded  the  qualities  of  a  doer;  his 
gift  of  imagination  is  equalled  only  by  his  energy  and  get-it-doneness. 
His  inborn  masterfulness,  at  times  resented  by  others  in  earlier  days, 
has  been  mellowed  by  experience. 

"I  feel,"  he  told  me,  "that  I  have  only  a  few  more  years  to  live 
and  my  main  object  in  life  now  is  to  influence  others,  especially  em- 
ployers, to  have  more  consideration  for  their  workers,  for  after  he  has 
a  competence,  money  can  do  nothing  satisfying  for  a  man's  own  wants. 
It  is  useful  only  in  enabling  him  to  do  good.  I  would  rather  spend 
money  to  bring  my  fellow-beings  out  into  the  open,  into  God's  sun- 


JOHN  H.  PATTERSON  277 

shine,  and  enable  them  to  enjoy  the  beauties  of  nature  than  hoard 
great  wealth  for  my  children." 

I  cannot  even  touch  upon  the  extent  of  the  National  Cash  Register 
Company's  business,  with  its  branches  and  agents  in  every  part  of 
the  world,  except  to  mention  that  it  employs  more  than  10,000  people 
thoughout  the  world,  produces  some  60,000  machines  per  annum, 
and  has  sold  more  than  1,800,000  registers  to  merchants  in  every 
civilized  country  in  the  world. 

I  asked  Mr.  Patterson  for  some  suggestions  for  the  attainment  of 
success,  and  this  is  what  he  laid  down: 

"Learn  to  overcome  difficulties  while  young.  The  farm  is  the 
best  school,  for  it  teaches  the  fundamentals  of  success,  namely: 

"i.  Hard  work. 

"2.  Commonsense. 

"3.  Good  habits. 

"4.   Practical  experience. 

"5.  The  value  of  a  dollar." 


GEORGE  W.  PERKINS 

ONLY  one  man  ever  refused  a  partnership  in  J.  P.  Morgan  & 
Company. 
The  partnership  was  offered  the  first  time  the  late  Mr. 
Morgan  saw  the  man.     It  came  after  only  a  few  moments'  conversa- 
tion on  a  non-business  subject. 

More  extraordinary  still,  the  man  had  never  had  a  day's  banking 
experience. 

Mr.  Morgan's  engagement  of  H.  P.  Davison,  a  banker,  and  known 
to  him  personally,  was  dramatic  enough;  but  his  proffer  of  a  partner- 
ship to  George  W.  Perkins,  as  here  described  for  the  first  time,  consti- 
tutes perhaps  the  most  dramatic  episode  in  the  annals  of  high  finance. 

Mr.  Perkins,  then  a  vice-president  of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance 
Company,  had  been  named  a  member  of  the  Palisades  Park  Commis- 
sion and  wanted  to  raise  money.  A  Morgan  partner  had  several  times 
asked  Mr.  Perkins  to  come  into  the  office  and  meet  Mr.  Morgan,  and 
about  this  time  he  again  suggested  an  introduction.  Mr.  Perkins, 
with  an  eye  to  "touching"  the  banker  for  a  contribution,  agreed.  Mr. 
Morgan  greeted  him  in  his  private  office,  separated  from  the  office  of 
his  partners  merely  by  a  glass  partition. 

Mr.  Perkins  at  once  unfolded  his  scheme,  told  the  banker  that  they 
wanted  to  raise  $125,000  and  that  Mr.  Morgan's  name  among  the 
contributors  would  facilitate  the  raising  of  the  fund. 

"I  will  give  you  $25,000,"  Mr.  Morgan  replied  without  cavil. 

Mr.  Perkins  thanked  him  cordially — and  asked  if  Mr.  Morgan  could 
suggest  others  that  might  be  approached. 

"Look  here,"  Mr.  Morgan  immediately  countered,  "I  will  give 
you  the  whole  $125,000  if  you  will  do  something  for  me." 

Astonished,  Mr.  Perkins  stammered:  "There  is  nothing  I  can  do 
for  you,  Mr.  Morgan." 

"Yes,  there  is.  You  can  turn  round  and  take  that  desk  and  go  to 
work,"  said  Mr.  Morgan  very  emphatically  as  he  pointed  to  a  large 
desk  at  the  other  side  of  the  glass  partition. 

Mr.  Perkins  did  not  comprehend.  He  looked  at  Mr.  Morgan 
quizzically. 

"I  mean,  come  in  here  as  a  partner,"  explained  Mr.  Morgan. 

Mr.  Perkins,  to  Mr.  Morgan's  great  astonishment — for  he  was  not 
in  the  habit  of  having  young  financiers  refuse  to  join  his  cabinet — 

278 


GEORGE  W.  PERKINS 


GEORGE  W.  PERKINS  279 

replied:  "I  can't  do  that.  I  am  with  the  New  York  Life  and  must 
spend  my  days  there." 

It  was  not  until  nearly  a  year  after  that  Mr.  Morgan  finally  Induced 
Mr.  Perkins  to  join  the  firm,  and  then  Mr.  Perkins  consented  only  on 
condition  that  he  be  allowed  to  retain  his  position  with  the  New  York 
Life. 

Knowing  this  story,  I  asked  Mr.  Perkins  why  he  did  not  at  once 
grasp  the  opportunity  to  become  a  member  of  the  greatest  inter- 
national banking  house  in  the  country,  a  position  regarded  as  the 
Ultima  Thule  of  American  banking. 

"Because  I  never  have  been  in  this  world  merely  to  make  money," 
replied  Mr.  Perkins  in  a  tone  that  suggested  there  should  be  no  amaze- 
ment over  his  action.  "I  early  learned  that  any  man  who  starts  out 
simply  to  make  money  never  gets  very  far,  for  he  will  ruin  his  health, 
or  sacrifice  his  friends,  or  drive  so  hard  that  there  Is  nothing  In  It.  I 
was  brought  up  in  the  life  insurance  business.  It  is  not  a  charitable 
institution,  but  It  Is  a  business  in  which  you  deal  with  human  beings 
and  where  you  are  doing  something  for  people.  You  serve  in  a  cause 
which  you  believe  to  be  helpful  to  other  people. 

"I  had  worked  up  from  office-boy  to  the  highest  salaried  insurance 
position  In  the  world — ^75,000.  My  heart  was  In  the  work.  I  was 
striving  with  all  my  might  to  put  the  New  York  Life  in  the  premier 
place  among  the  Insurance  companies  of  the  world.  I  had  spent 
much  time  In  Europe  to  Induce  different  countries  to  give  us  a  license 
to  do  business  there  and  we  had  succeeded  In  gaining  admittance 
to  every  civilized  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  was  a  big, 
difficult,  but  fascinating  task,  and  I  did  not  want  to  give  It  up  even 
for  the  coveted  honour  and  emolument  of  a  partnership  in  J.  P. 
Morgan's." 

Mr.  Morgan  knew  what  he  was  doing  when  he  approached  Mr. 
Perkins,  for,  although  they  had  never  met,  New  York's  leading  banker 
was  well  aware  that  a  new  genius  had  invaded  the  financial  world. 
Mr.  Perkins,  in  addition  to  having  revolutionized  the  conduct  of  the 
life-insurance  business,  had  demonstrated  unwonted  ability  as  a 
financier.  Confronted  in  Russia  with  apparently  insuperable  bar- 
riers, Mr.  Perkins  resourcefully  arranged  that  his  company  should 
handle  a  large  bond  Issue  for  the  Russian  Government  If  given  per- 
mission to  do  insurance  business  throughout  that  vast  land.  Mr. 
Perkins  brought  the  bonds  back,  carried  the  deal  through  with  con- 
summate skill,  and  won  for  himself  a  place  on  the  Finance  Committee 
of  the  New  York  Life,  a  position  then  keenly  coveted  by  the  greatest 
financial  interests  In  the  metropolis. 

Mr.  Perkins's  adroitness  and  originality  as  a  financier  sprouted  at  a 
very  early  age. 


28o  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

One  very  stormy  night,  when  he  was  a  fledghng  insurance  solicitor 
out  West,  he  waded  through  deep  snow  to  a  country  flour  mill,  and 
tackled  the  miller,  his  brother  and  son. 

They  were  not  interested — at  first.  But  they  could  not  run  away. 
Finally,  Perkins,  finding  they  would  not  part  with  any  cash,  oflFered 
to  accept  their  notes  in  payment  for  the  first  premium.  This  bait 
got  them.  By  this  time  the  hour  for  finishing  up  the  day's  business 
had  arrived,  and  Perkins  noticed  they  were  putting  quite  a  snug  sum 
into  the  safe. 

"I  suppose  you  sometimes  buy  bargains,  don't  you.?"  he  remarked. 

To  be  sure,  they  did. 

"Well,  now,  I'll  sell  you  something  absolutely  good  at  a  bargain 
price.     I'll  sell  you  your  own  notes  at  a  discount." 

And  in  five  minutes  Perkins  was  walking  out  with  his  pockets  bulg- 
ing with  cash! 

"Say,  young  fellow,"  the  old  German  miller  called  after  him,  "I 
wish  you  would  let  me  know  what  you  are  doing  when  you  are  40. 
Will  you  send  me  your  photograph  then?" 

At  thirty-nine  the  insurance  solicitor  was  drawing  a  larger  salary 
than  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  refusing  a  partnership  in 
the  country's  greatest  banking  house.  At  forty  he  was  a  member  of 
Morgan  &  Company. 

How  had  he  done  it?     How  may  others  attain  similar  success? 

"The  most  important  thing  of  all  is  to  look  upon  your  work  as 
play  and  throw  yourself  into  it  with  the  same  zest  and  relish 
and  determination  to  excel  as  when  you  play  baseball  or  checkers  or 
football,"  Mr.  Perkins  emphasized.  "By  adopting  this  mental  atti- 
tude toward  your  work  you  can  accomplish  more  and  find  greater 
pleasure  and  satisfaction  in  the  doing  of  it.  Any  young  man — or  older 
man — having  this  conception  of  his  duties,  will  not  worry  if  obliged 
to  stay  after  five  o'clock;  he  will  be  eager  to  achieve  the  task  in  hand 
and  will  get  genuine  fun  out  of  attaining  his  purpose. 

"Another  valuable  lesson  I  learned  from  my  father,  namely,  that  a 
change  of  occupation  is  almost  equal  to  a  vacation.  The  idea  that 
you  must  have  a  certain  amount  of  rest,  doing  nothing,  is  all  wrong. 
To  keep  your  red  corpuscles  red,  there  is  nothing  like  healthy  work 
enthusiastically  performed. 

"Afy  own  method  has  been  to  live  every  day  as  though  it  was  the 
only  day  I  had  to  live  and  to  crowd  everything  -possible  into  that  day. 
Pay  no  attention  to  the  clock  or  what  you  are  paid,  but  work  and  live 
for  all  there  is  in  it — just  as  you  would  play  football — and  everything 
else  will  take  care  of  itself. 

"At  the  head  of  the  table  there  is  always  most  room.  It  is  the 
tree  that  grows  and  grows  until  it  overtops  the  others  that  gets  the 


GEORGE  W.  PERKINS  281 

most  air  and  sunshine.  The  thing  for  the  young  man  to  do  is  to 
strive  with  all  the  energy  he  possesses  to  excel  in  actual  ability.  Pull 
is  not  necessary.  Nor  should  a  young  man  bother  too  much  about  his 
wages — I  never  asked  an  increase  in  my  life.  You  can  command 
sooner  or  later  what  you  are  entitled  to — if  you  preeminently  deserve 
it. 

"But  you  have  got  to  be  ultra-proficient  m  some  particular  thing. 
You  must  stand  out  and  do  it  better  than  the  fellows  around  you 
whether  you  are  an  office-boy,  a  stenographer,  or  an  executive.  You 
must  use  your  head  as  well  as  your  hands.  Don't  be  afraid  to  do 
extra  work  lest  it  interfere  with  your  theatre-going — I  don't  go  to  the 
theatre  half-a-dozen  times  during  the  winter,  not  that  I  don't  like  it, 
but  there  are  other  things  more  worth  doing." 

As  I  have  always  regarded  as  Mr.  Perkins's  chief  contribution  to 
the  improvement  of  the  modern  economic  system  his  origination  and 
introduction  of  profit  sharing  with  employees,  I  questioned  him  on 
how  he  came  to  conceive  and  carry  out  this  idea. 

"Necessity  was  the  mother  of  its  invention,"  he  replied.  "Also,  I 
realized  that  profit  sharing  would  add  to  the  zest  of  work.  It  is 
absolutely  the  only  way  to  solve  the  problem  between  capital  and 
labour.     I  adopted  it  before  ever  I  entered  Morgan's 

"It  came  about  in  this  way:  When  I  took  charge  of  the  New 
York  Life  agents,  I  found  conditions  most  unsatisfactory.  The  com- 
pany had  only  a  general  agent  in  each  state  and  this  agent  appointed 
all  the  solicitors  for  his  state  and  had  them  under  him.  If  one  of 
those  general  agents  resigned  he  would  take  away  most  of  his  solicitors 
with  him.  Moreover,  it  was  a  very  common  thing  for  solicitors  to 
make  all  sorts  of  gross  misrepresentations  in  order  to  get  initial  pre- 
miums, and  once  they  had  'worked'  one  particular  district  they  would 
clear  out  and  start  all  over  again  to  fool  another  group  of  people. 

"It  was  essential,  I  saw,  that  there  should  be  something  to  bind 
all  the  agents  and  solicitors  to  the  company,  some  strong  inducement 
for  them  to  stay  by  the  company  and  treat  it  fairly  by  not  misrepre- 
senting things  to  people  and  thus  heaping  all  sorts  of  troubles  and 
tangles  upon  the  officers  to  straighten  out. 

"Most  of  the  agents,  too,  were  an  improvident  lot,  spending  every- 
thing they  made.  I  organized  the  much-discussed  *Nylic'  to  cure 
all  these  evils.  We  explained  to  the  agents  that  if  they  would  save 
as  much  money  as  they  could  each  year  and  put  it  into  a  common 
fund,  the  company  would  add  to  it  a  certain  percentage.  Then  the 
entire  sum  would  be  invested  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  subscribed 
to  it  and  made  to  earn  as  much  as  possible. 

"This  plan  accompHshed  these  valuable  results:  It  taught  the 
agents  to  save.     Automatically  it  induced  them  to  stay  with  the 


282  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

New  York  Life.  Then,  when  they  knew  they  were  to  stay  with  the 
company,  they  had  to  tell  the  truth;  and  when  they  ceased  to  fool 
the  policy  holders,  these  agents  had  no  longer  the  reasons  they  for- 
merly had  to  quit.  The  few  agents  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
saving,  often  invested  their  money  unwisely  and  the  consequent  worry 
militated  against  their  efficiency.  The  'Nylic'  money  was  judiciously 
invested  for  these  men  and  increased  very  markedly. 

"When  the  insurance  investigations  came  along,  the  forces  of  the 
other  companies  were  demoralized  whereas  ours  stood  by  us  like  a 
stone  wall. 

"We  did  away  with  the  general  state  agents  entirely.  They  were 
really  nothing  but  middlemen.  The  company  rented  its  own  offices 
throughout  the  country,  put  a  responsible  man  in  charge  of  each  on  a 
salary  basis  and  engaged  the  agents  direct,  so  that  the  company  knew 
the  name  and  kept  a  record  of  each  man  representing  it  in  the  field. 
Under  this  system  if  any  agent  left  he  could  not  take  a  whole  crowd 
with  him.  The  arrangement  made  for  efficiency  and  saved  the  com- 
pany— and,  therefore,  the  policy  holders — a  great  deal  of  money." 

The  profit-sharing  plan  thus  instituted  by  Mr.  Perkins  was  later 
introduced  by  him  into  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  and  the 
International  Harvester  Corporation  and  has  since  been  copied,  either 
in  toto  or  in  modified  form,  by  scores  of  other  corporations.  This, 
to  my  mind,  is  the  best  monument  raised  by  Mr.  Perkins. 

Mr.  Perkins  has  been  an  enigma  to  most  of  the  financial  community 
and  to  a  large  section  of  the  public.  Some  of  his  activities,  actual  or 
rumoured,  while  he  was  with  Morgan  &  Company,  his  retirement  from 
that  firm  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  his  announcement  that  he  intended 
to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  aiding  in  the  amelioration  of 
social  conditions  and  the  solution  of  economic  and  public  problems, 
his  extremely  unconventional  political  activities  under  the  Roosevelt 
Progressive  banner — all  these  things  have  excited  comment,  criticism, 
and  even  suspicion.  For  a  "Wall  Street  millionaire"  to  give  up 
money-making,  cast  off  established  political  affiliations  and  announce 
that  he  would  become  an  active,  practical  humanitarian  was  some- 
thing the  people  could  not  quite  fathom.  There  must  be  a  nigger  in 
the  woodpile.  It  was  so  unlike  the  ordained  order  of  things.  It  was 
too  good  to  be  true. 

I  hinted  at  these  things  and  asked  Mr.  Perkins:  *'What  about  it.''" 

"I  know,"  he  nodded.  "I  suppose  my  action  did  seem  queer  to 
those  unfamiliar  with  all  the  facts,  but  to  any  one  knowing  my  ancestry 
and  my  view  of  life  and  of  money-making,  and  knowing,  also,  how  I 
at  first  refused  the  lucrative  offer  to  join  Mr.  Morgan,  my  conduct 
has  not  been  at  all  illogical.  Two  of  my  forbears  were  David  Wal- 
bridge  and  George  Walbridge,  both  prominent  men  in  Michigan,  the 


GEORGE  W.  PERKINS  283 

former  being  a  staunch  Congressman  from  that  state.  It  was  this 
David  Walbridge  who  presided  at  the  meeting  at  Kalamazoo  where 
the  Repubhcan  Party  was  born.  By  the  way,  when  Mr.  Hughes  was 
recently  in  Kalamazoo  they  presented  him  with  a  cane  that  Abraham 
Lincoln  had  given  to  this  granduncle  of  mine,  David  Walbridge. 
My  middle  name  is  Walbridge,  as  also  was  my  father's.  I,  therefore, 
had  good  Republican  blood  in  me — and  also,  perhaps,  a  fair  share  of 
independence. 

"Then,  my  father,  although  not  a  rich  man  by  any  means,  was 
deeply  interested  in  philanthropic  and  similar  work.  He  was  chair- 
man of  the  Illinois  Board  of  Reformatories  and  was  associated  with 
Dwight  L.  Moody,  about  i860,  in  organizing  the  Sands  Missionary 
Sunday  School — so  called  because  they  had  no  building  and  met  on 
the  sands.  It  became  the  largest  in  Chicago  with  an  attendance  of 
1,200  scholars,  rivalled  only  by  John  Wanamaker's  school  in  Philadel- 
phia. He  also  organized  other  mission  Sunday  Schools  and  started 
the  Railroad  Mission  in  a  box  car — until  recently  I  carried  the  watch 
the  Railroad  Sunday-school  teachers  gave  my  father,  one  of  the  first 
stem-winding  watches  in  the  country. 

"Is  it  not  natural,  therefore,  that  I  should  become,  for  example, 
a  member  of  the  Prison  Commission  and  be  interested  in  Thomas  Mott 
Osborne's  work.?  My  father  believed  in  the  honour  system  fifty 
years  ago  and  believed,  also,  in  rewarding  delinquents  for  good  be- 
haviour, etc.  I  recall  that  while  I  was  a  lad  of  only  six,  George  Payson 
Weston  was  to  pass  our  home  on  the  south  side  of  Chicago  on  his 
first  great  walk  from  New  England  to  Chicago  and  my  father,  who 
had  supplied  the  boys  of  the  reform  school  near  our  home  with 
instruments,  got  the  superintendent  to  take  more  than  half  the  boys 
out  of  the  school  and  accompany  Weston  into  Chicago  with  the  reform- 
school  brass  band  at  the  head  of  the  procession.  Not  a  single  boy 
tried  to  run  away,  yet  my  father  was  trounced  unmercifully  by  the 
newspapers  for  the  danger  to  which  he  had  exposed  the  city  1  Pie  was, 
you  see,  something  of  a  progressive! 

George  Walbridge  Perkins,  born  on  January  31,  1862,  was  ten  years 
old  before  he  was  sent  to  school,  his  father's  theory  being  that,  as  he 
would  not  ask  a  child  to  carry  a  hod  of  coal  upstairs  lest  it  hurt  his 
spine,  it  was  even  more  important  not  to  put  undue  strain  upon  the 
brain  of  a  child.  At  school  George  often  got  into  trouble  for  not 
doing  things  according  to  rule;  he  could  get  the  correct  answer  quickly 
by  methods  of  his  own,aspecies  of  originality  that  was  not  encouraged. 
Graduating  from  the  public  school  at  fifteen  he  insisted  on  going  to 
work  rather  than  to  high  school. 

His  first  job  was  sorting  lemons  and  oranges  in  a  fruit  store  in 
Water  Street — "and  I  have  been  more  or  less  engaged  in  sorting 


284  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

lemons  from  oranges  ever  since,"  he  commented  laughingly  in  recalling 
these  early  days.  It  was  dirty,  unremunerative  work,  affording  no 
outlet  for  ingenuity  or  originality.  So  in  a  few  months  he  found  a 
place  as  office-boy  with  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company. 
Almost  from  the  start  he  would  go  out  of  an  evening,  after  finishing 
his  day's  duties,  and  hunt  for  "prospects."  Before  long  he  was 
writing  quite  a  little  insurance. 

Next  he  invented  an  entirely  new  kind  of  ledger,  which  attained 
quite  a  reputation  under  the  name  of  the  "Perkins  Record."  It  did 
away  with  many  unnecessary  entries  in  other  books  and  kept  a  com- 
plete and  convenient  record  of  each  policy.  He  did  other  radical  and 
progressive  things — so  much  so  that  the  first  time  he  went  to  New 
York  the  chief  accountant,  an  old  German,  to  whom  all  the  branch 
offices  reported,  snapped,  when  Mr.  Perkins  was  introduced:  "So 
you  are  the  man  who  breaks  more  rules  of  the  company  than  any 
other  cashier.''" 

This  rebuff  from  such  a  dignitary  "scared  me  out  of  seven  years' 
growth,"  Mr.  Perkins  afterward  related. 

From  office-boy  in  Chicago  young  Perkins,  when  seventeen,  went 
to  the  Cleveland  office  of  the  company  as  assistant  bookkeeper,  and 
when  twenty-one  had  been  appointed  cashier.  There  was  not  much 
room  for  originality  in  this  position,  nor  did  it  afford  enough  facilities 
for  rubbing  shoulders  with  other  people  and  doing  business.  When 
twenty-four  he  resigned  and  took  a  roving  commission  as  solicitor, 
making  Denver  his  headquarters.  Within  two  years  he  was  made 
agency  director  there  and  soon  made  ^15,000  a  year  in  commissions. 
Next  he  was  promoted  to  the  responsible  position  of  inspector  of 
agencies  in  the  West,  with  his  office  in  Chicago,  at  $15,000  per  annum. 

This  was  a  man's  job.  As  already  explained,  the  agency  system  in 
those  days  was  extremely  unsatisfactory.  To  make  matters  worse, 
vicious  attacks  began  to  be  made  by  the  New  York  newspapers  upon 
the  principal  life-insurance  companies.  The  situation  called  for 
virile,  aggressive  action.     Perkins  rose  to  the  occasion. 

His  fecund  mind  hatched  a  new  idea  to  hearten  and  stimulate  the 
discouraged  agents.  With  a  stroke  of  genius,  he  started  the  "Bulle- 
tin," which  was  destined  to  become  famous  throughout  the  insurance 
world — and  destined,  also,  to  have  many  imitators.  It  began  as  a 
four-page  circular  of  which  three  pages  carried  interesting  miscella- 
neous information,  and  the  first  a  message  each  week  from  the  brilliant 
young  inspector  of  agencies.  Perkins's  idea  would  have  done  credit 
to  the  editor  of  the  most  up-to-date  morning  or  evening  newspaper. 
The  "Bulletin"  was  mailed  to  reach  every  agent  at  his  home  on 
Monday  morning. 

In  Mr.  Perkins's  mind  was  the  picture  of  an  agent  sitting  in  a  chair 


GEORGE  W.  PERKINS  285 

reading  a  local  newspaper,  smoking  a  cigar,  taking  things  easy.  The 
Perkins  message  was  directed  straight  to  that  man  and  was  so  con- 
structed as  to  arouse  him  to  throw  away  his  cigar,  put  on  his  coat,  and 
go  in  search  of  somebody  to  insure.  It  was  a  clarion  call  to  duty,  a 
ringing  message  of  inspiration.  It  appealed  to  the  man's  manhood. 
It  shamed  sloth.  It  awakened  ambition.  Also,  and  importantly, 
it  did  the  trick. 

The  New  York  Life's  agents,  or  most  of  them,  became  veritable 
dynamos.  They  hustled  as  never  before.  Croakers  who  wrote  com- 
plainingly  that  the  New  York  newspaper  attacks  were  killing  business 
received  the  crushing  reply  that  exact  data  had  been  gathered  of 
the  number  of  copies  of  New  York  newspapers  that  went  west  of 
Chicago  and  that  the  total  was  infinitesimal  contrasted  with  the  num- 
ber of  people  to  be  insured.  This  httle  investigation  was  another 
idea  born  in  the  inspector's  fruitful  brain. 

The  inevitable  happened.  The  invaluable  work  being  done  by 
Perkins  became  the  talk  of  the  insurance  world  and  in  three  years, 
when  exactly  thirty,  he  was  elected  third  vice-president  of  the  New 
York  Life  Insurance  Company  at  ^25,000  a  year.  In  less  than  a  year 
he  was  honoured  by  election  to  the  Board  of  Trustees.  Promotion  to 
the  second  vice-presidency,  in  1898,  at  ^35,000,  was  immediately 
followed  by  his  elevation  to  the  Finance  Committee,  while  in  1900 
he  was  made  chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee,  a  post,  in  some 
respects,  carrying  greater  responsibilities  than  even  that  of  the  presi- 
dency of  the  company. 

It  was  in  this  year,  1900,  that  Mr.  Perkins  became  a  Morgan  part- 
ner. In  1903  he  was  elected  first  vice-president  of  the  New  York 
Life. 

Mr.  Perkins  retired  from  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Company  on  December 
31,  1910,  "for  the  purpose  of  devoting  more  time  to  work  of  a  public 
and  semi-public  nature,  notably  profit  sharing  and  other  benefit 
plans." 

During  his  decade's  service  as  a  banker  perhaps  the  most  notable 
achievements  of  Mr.  Perkins  were  his  epochal  introduction  of  profit 
sharing  in  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  of  whose  Finance 
Committee  he  became  a  member,  his  gigantic  merger  of  farm  ma- 
chinery manufacturers  into  the  International  Harvester  Corporation, 
and  his  effective  financial  piloting  of  that  organization  as  chairman 
of  the  Finance  Committee. 

Mr.  Morgan  never  had  a  more  active,  on-the-jump  partner  than 
George  W.  Perkins,  yet,  although  the  two  men  were  totally  different 
in  their  make-up,  they  managed  to  pull  together  in  close  harmony  for 
ten  years.  Wall  Street  gossip  that  Mr.  Perkins  was  asked  to  resign 
because  of  certain  stock-market  operations  was  widely  credited  by 


286  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

those  ignorant  of  Mr.  Perkins's  philosophy  of  Hfe,  for  it  did  seem  an 
extraordinary  thing  for  a  man  under  fifty,  full  of  health  and  vigour 
and  ambition,  to  step  down  from  a  shining  banking  pedestal  into 
financial  retirement.  The  most  notable  characteristic  of  George 
Walbridge  Perkins,  however,  is  his  inherent  penchant  for  doing 
original,  out-of-the-ordinary,  not  to  say  startling,  things. 

Even  while  in  the  thick  of  the  game  he  preached  doctrines  not  then 
generally  subscribed  to  concerning  capital's  responsibilities  to  the 
public.  For  example,  ten  years  ago  he  laid  down  this  dictum  in  an 
address  on  "The  Modern  Corporation"  at  Columbia  College.  "The 
corporations  of  the  future  must  be  those  that  are  semi-public  servants, 
serving  the  public,  with  ownership  widespread  among  the  public, 
and  labour  so  fairly  and  equitably  treated  that  it  will  look  upon  its 
corporation  as  its  friend  and  protector  rather  than  as  an  ever-present 
enemy;  above  all,  believing  in  it  so  thoroughly  that  it  will  invest  its 
savings  in  the  corporation's  securities  and  become  partners  in  the 
business.  .  .  .  For  business  purposes  in  this  country  the  United 
States  Government  is  a  corporation  with  fifty  subsidiary  companies, 
and  the  sooner  this  is  realized  the  sooner  we  can  get  the  right  kind  of 
supervision  of  semi-public  business  enterprises  and,  in  this  way,  give 
the  public  the  publicity  and  the  protection  to  which  it  is  entitled  in 
the  conduct  of  business  by  corporations.  In  no  other  way  can  the 
public  be  protected  from  evils  in  corporation  management." 

Mr.  Perkins  now  works  harder  in  the  public  interest  than  he  ever 
worked  for  his  own  pocket.  His  most  recent  activities  have  been  in 
checkmating  the  rising  cost  of  foodstuffs,  his  efforts  in  this  direction 
having  won  him  official  recognition  and  an  official  position.  While 
others  talked,  Perkins  did  things,  bringing  food  to  New  York  and 
placing  it  on  the  market  at  low  prices.  He  is  a  member  of  thirty-five 
non-business  societies  and  associations  interested  in  various  phases  of 
the  public  welfare,  education,  art,  etc.  Almost  singlehanded  he 
has  brought  within  measurable  distance  of  fruition  the  colossal  scheme 
to  create  not  merely  a  local  Palisades  Park  across  the  river  from  New 
York  but  an  interstate  park  running  all  the  way  from  Fort  Lee  to 
Newburgh  along  the  west  side  of  the  Hudson  River. 

Some  shallow  money-grabbing  individuals  were  at  first  inclined  to 
scoff  and  sneer  at  Mr.  Perkins's  avowed  intention  to  devote  the  rest  of 
his  life  to  worthy  public  or  semi-public  purposes,  but  his  works  have 
stopped  their  mouths.  I  confess  to  having  been  prejudiced  against 
Mr.  Perkins  because  of  his  somewhat  brusque,  snappish  mannerisms, 
of  which  I  once  received  an  unpalatable  taste;  yet  the  fact  remains 
that  he  is  a  conspicuous  example  of  a  wealthy,  active,  forceful  busi- 
ness man  relinquishing  money-making  at  a  relatively  early  age  to 
devote  unstinted  energy  to  unselfish,  helpful  causes. 


GEORGE  W.  PERKINS  287 

Europe  has  many  men  of  somewhat  similar  type,  men  of  affluence 
who  devote  their  Hves  chiefly  to  the  pubHc  interest,  but  this  country 
is,  or  at  least  was  before  the  war,  so  madly  engaged  in  dollar-making 
that  few  millionaires  have  turned  from  serving  mammon  to  serving 
their  fellowmen  with  their  heads,  hearts,  and  hands — though  some 
have  been  lavish  enough  with  part  of  their  surplus  lucre. 

Mr.  Perkins  married  Miss  Evelina  Ball  of  Cleveland,  in  1899,  and 
has  two  children,  a  daughter  and  a  son,  the  latter,  George  W.  Perkins, 
Jr.,  who  graduated  from  Princeton  in  1917  and  immediately  took  up 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  war  work. 


GEORGE  M.  REYNOLDS 

CAN  you  picture  a  young  bank  clerk  of  to-day  rising  before 
daylight,  hurrying  off  to  the  bank  to  oil  and  polish  the  floors, 
clean  the  brass,  and  then  scrape  the  mud  off  the  street  crossings 
in  front  of  the  bank  door  so  as  to  make  the  spot  the  cleanest  in  the 
town  ? 

Or,  do  you  know  many  country  lads  of  twelve  having  vision  enough 
to  subscribe  regularly  for  a  dozen  newspapers  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  with  a  view  to  learning  something  of  the  great  world  lying 
beyond  the  native  village  and  using  the  knowledge  thus  gathered  as  a 
means  of  making  dreams  come  true? 

The  story  of  the  rise  of  George  M.  Reynolds  from  a  farm  boy,  follow- 
ing the  plow,  to  the  presidency  of  the  largest  bank  in  the  United  States 
outside  of  New  York — the  Continental  and  Commercial  National 
Bank  of  Chicago  and  its  allied  institutions,  having  $400,000,000 
resources — glows  with  lessons  of  inspiration  for  the  youth  of  America. 
This  is  the  ex-farm  boy  who  was  offered  the  post  of  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  by  President  Taft.  Also,  among  the  honours  conferred 
upon  him  has  been  the  presidency  of  the  American  Bankers'  Asso- 
ciation, with  its  17,000  members.  When  the  famous  Aldrich  Currency 
Commission  went  to  Europe,  the  former  plowman  was  taken  along  as 
expert  financial  adviser. 

Determination,  incessant  work,  continuity  of  purpose,  patience, 
unflagging  optimism,  never-failing  cheerfulness,  careful  study  of 
human  nature,  a  spirit  of  democracy  and  faith  in  the  goodness  of 
human  nature  are  the  principal  ingredients  of  success,  Mr.  Reynolds 
has  learned  in  the  character-testing  school  of  experience  through 
which  he  has  passed. 

"In  life,  as  on  the  farm,  you  reap  what  you  sow,"  Mr.  Reynolds  de- 
clared. "The  trouble  with  most  young  men  to-day  is  that  they  want 
to  reap  the  moment  they  have  sown.  That  is  not  nature's  way. 
By  sowing  or  planting  carefully  and  tilling  the  ground  intelligently 
the  harvest-time  will  come  in  due  season — but  not  before.  Patience 
is  not  a  virtue;  it  is  a  necessity." 

Mr.  Reynolds  began  his  sowing  early.  His  farmer  father,  however, 
put  him  in  the  wrong  field  at  the  start.  He  wanted  George  to  be  a 
merchant.  So  he  purchased  an  interest  in  a  store  in  the  neighbouring 
township  of  Panora,  Iowa,  and  installed  the  15-year-old  son  behind 

288 


GEORGE  M.  REYNOLDS 


GEORGE  M.  REYNOLDS  289 

the  counter.  The  farmers'  wives  brought  butter  and  eggs,  and 
George's  duty,  after  counting  the  eggs  and  weighing  the  butter,  was 
to  dole  out,  in  return,  tea,  coffee,  sugar,  tobacco — and  caHco.  It  was 
the  caHco  that  upset  all  papa  Reynolds's  plans.  Every  housewife 
buying  calico  wanted  to  make  sure  beyond  doubt  that  the  colours  in 
her  new  dress  were  fast  and  would  not  run. 

The  standard  method  of  proving  the  quality  of  the  dyes  was  to 
have  the  store  clerk  tear  off  a  small  piece  of  the  calico,  chew  it  vigor- 
ously, take  the  ball  of  calico  from  his  mouth,  unravel  it  in  front  of  the 
critical  customer,  and  show  that  each  colour  had  stayed  strictly  within 
its  own  bounds. 

George's  ambitions  persisted  in  bursting  through  the  walls  of  the 
village  store — and  his  teeth  were  rebelling  against  calico-chewing. 
The  whole  business  was  too  small  and  petty,  he  felt;  it  did  not  appeal 
to  him. 

After  a  particularly  busy  Saturdayof  butter-weighing,  egg-counting, 
grocery-selling,  and  calico-munching,  George  went  home  and  told  his 
father  he  would  ten  times  rather  work  on  the  farm,  as  he  knew  he  was 
a  round  peg  in  a  square  hole. 

On  Monday  the  Reynolds  interest  in  the  store  was  sold. 

George  became  plowman  and  teamster.  In  those  days  Iowa  re- 
quired each  farmer  to  do  so  many  days'  work  in  road-making  and 
repairing.  Young  Reynolds  got  a  team  and  did  work  for  neighbours 
at  $2.50  a  day  instead  of  the  ^3  allowed.  He  was  a  sturdy,  healthy, 
broad-backed  youth  and,  though  not  sixteen,  he  could  hold  his  own 
with  the  best  of  them. 

Every  spare  moment  was  devoted  to  reading  and  gathering  informa- 
tion about  a  broader  world  than  Panora.  Whenever  he  got  a  chance 
he  hied  to  the  orchard,  squatted  in  the  shade  of  the  apple  trees, 
and  devoured  his  newspapers,  among  them  the  St.  Louis  Globe- 
Democrat,  New  Orleans  Picayune,  Cincinnati  Enquirer,  Atlanta 
Constitution,  San  Francisco  Chronicle,  Portland  Oregonian,  and 
Rocky  Mountain  News  of  Denver. 

He  found  his  feet  when  given  a  job  at  ^12.50  a  month  in  the  Guthrie 
County  Bank,  a  small  local  institution  in  which  his  father  was  a 
stockholder.  His  foot  was  now  on  the  right  ladder,  he  knew,  and  he 
prepared  to  climb.  The  first  steps  included,  as  already  told,  the 
polishing  of  the  floors  and  the  scraping  and  sweeping  of  the  street 
crossings  in  front  of  the  bank — all  duties  not  called  for  in  his  contract; 
his  title,  if  you  please,  was  that  of  bookkeeper. 

"You  liked  the  banking  business  from  your  first  day  in  it?"  I 
asked. 

"Yes,"  he  replied,  "I  liked  it  so  much  that  social  pleasures  lost 
interest  for  me.     I  got  more  fun  out  of  working  at  the  bank  in  the 


290  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

evenings  than  I  could  have  got  by  attending  local  parties  or  other 
social  functions.  My  newspaper  and  other  reading  had  taught  nie 
that  nothing  worth  while  could  be  gained  without  industry,  and  I  was 
determined  to  work  hard." 

Many  a  night,  after  finishing  at  the  bank,  between  eight  and  nine 
o'clock,  he  hurried  to  a  small  grain  elevator  owned  by  his  father, 
donned  overalls  and,  with  a  scoop-shovel,  loaded  railroad  cars  in 
order  that  the  elevator  might  have  space  for  grain  arriving  from  the 
farms  next  morning. 

For  his  intelligence  and  application  to  duty  at  the  bank  he  was  soon 
given  opportunity  to  assist  in  making  loans.  Business  activities 
interested  him.  He  wanted  to  try  his  own  hand  at  it.  His  chance 
came. 

One  winter  day  a  stranger  from  northern  Iowa  stepped  off  the 
train  and  called  at  the  bank  to  ask  where  he  could  buy  2,000  cords  of 
wood  to  use  in  burning  brick  seventy-five  miles  away.  Young 
Reynolds  saw  a  chance  for  a  profitable  deal  by  turning  wood  contrac- 
tor. Quickly  ascertaining  the  freight  rate,  etc.,  the  embryonic  trader 
agreed  to  furnish  the  wood  at  a  price  which  he  calculated  would  net 
him  a  profit  of  $z  per  cord,  or  ^4,000  on  the  transaction. 

Alas,  the  business  novice  overlooked  the  fact  that  the  surrounding 
black  loam  roads  became  impassable  for  a  wagon  after  a  spring  thaw. 
Consequently,  those  from  whom  he  had  purchased  supplies  were  un- 
able to  make  delivery  when  the  frost  left  the  ground.  The  brick- 
maker  clamoured  for  his  wood,  urging  that  failure  to  send  it  would 
ruin  several  kilns  of  brick,  in  which  event  he  would  sue  Reynolds  for 
the  loss! 

Reynolds  hustled  here,  there,  and  everywhere,  scouring  the  near-by 
country  for  small  quantities  which,  by  paying  extra,  would  and  could 
be  dragged  over  the  bad  roads.     His  ^4,000  was  dwindling  sadly! 

But  fate,  he  was  determined,  should  not  cheat  him  of  his  entire 
profit.     He  would  save  all  loading  charges  by  doing  the  work  himself! 

After  finishing  at  the  bank,  he  took  a  lantern  night  after  night,  went 
to  the  railway  side  track,  piled  in  as  much  wood  as  he  could  get  through 
the  car  door,  then  climbed  into  the  car,  carried  the  wood  back  and 
stacked  it  up  until  the  car  was  filled.  Early  next  morning  he  would 
repeat  the  performance.  In  sixty  days  he  finished  the  loading  and 
shipping  of  the  full  2,000  cords — a  cord  of  wood  is  a  large  wagon-load 
eight  feet  long,  four  feet  high,  and  four  feet  in  width,  so  you  can  guess 
what  the  handling  and  rehandling  of  the  2,000  wagon-loads  with  his 
own  hands  meant  to  Reynolds. 

The  whole  community  guyed  him  about  his  famous  wood  contract. 
But  as  he  had  actually  cleared  ^2,500  profit  for  his  60  days'  work 
Reynolds  was  not  quite  sure  whom  the  joke  was  on ! 


GEORGE  M.  REYNOLDS  291 

"I  was  no  worse  for  the  wear  except  that  I  had  lacerated  hands  and 
the  bank  books  suffered  a  Httle  from  bad  writing,"  he  declared  in 
recounting  the  incident. 

The  larger  world  still  kept  a-callin'.  Panora  had  several  citizens 
clearsighted  enough  to  see  that  young  Reynolds  possessed  qualities 
likely  to  carry  him  far.  To  celebrate  his  majority — he  was  born  on 
January  15,  1865 — he  set  out  to  seek  a  larger  sphere.  Two  well-to-do 
citizens  furnished  enough  capital  to  increase  his  own  savings  to 
$40,000,  and,  with  drafts  in  his  inside  pocket,  he  first  looked  over 
Kansas,  and  then  Nebraska,  where  he  opened  a  farm  loan  business,  in 
Hastings.  By  buckboard,  horseback  and  every  other  available 
means  of  transportation  he  traversed  southern  Nebraska  and  north- 
ern Kansas.  He  kept  his  ears  and  eyes  open,  and  drew  maps  locating 
all  creeks  and  rivers,  alkali  pits,  etc.  He  granted  mortgages  to  farmers 
and  disposed  of  farm  loans  wherever  he  could  find  a  market.  He  was 
now  for  the  first  time  seeing  the  world  and  rubbing  shoulders  with 
the  people  in  it.  He  took  up  the  study  of  human  nature  in  earnest, 
believing  that  a  knowledge  of  this  science  would  prove  a  key  to  suc- 
cess. 

Much  against  his  inclination,  he  consented  to  return  to  Panora 
twoyearslaterwhenhis  father  purchased  the  controlling  interest  in  the 
Guthrie  County  National  Bank.  This  time  he  entered  it  as  cashier 
and  manager — only  eight  years  after  his  first  entry  into  the  institution. 
It  was  not  long  before  he  doubled  the  bank's  resources.  Though  only 
in  his  early  twenties,  he  was  already  one  of  Panora's  most  prominent 
citizens. 

He  wanted  Panora  to  spruce  up.  Other  towns,  his  journeyings 
taught  him,  had  electric  light  and  water  works;  why  not  Panora? 
True,  it  had  only  1,000  inhabitants,  but  what  of  that?  Reynolds  laid 
his  idea  before  the  mayor  but  he,  staid  citizen,  squelched  the  ambitious 
project.  Reynolds  quietly  canvassed  the  town,  found  the  majority 
of  the  voters  were  with  him,  and  then  coolly  told  the  Mayor  it  would 
expedite  matters  if  he  would  resign.  He  did  so,  and  "Mayor  Rey- 
nolds" was  his  successor. 

When  twenty-eight  he  accepted  the  cashiership  of  the  Des  Moines 
National  Bank,  where  the  field  was  broader,  the  opportunities  more 
plentiful  and  the  competition  keener.  He  proved  his  mettle.  In  less 
than  two  years  he  was  elevated  to  the  presidency  of  the  bank.  At 
thirty  he  had  thus  risen  to  a  place  of  prominence  and  influence  in  the 
world. 

He  had  and  has  a  memory  that  is  almost  uncanny.  He  can  recall 
probably  more  names  and  faces  than  any  other  banker  in  America, 
and  this,  with  his  years  of  active  work  in  the  American  Bankers* 
Association,  his  wide  travel,  his  approachability,  and  his  genuine  in- 


292  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

terest  in  all  classes  of  mankind,  has  enabled  him  to  build  up  perhaps 
the  widest  circle  of  friends  of  any  man  in  his  profession. 

His  reputation  having  become  more  than  local,  he  received  numbers 
of  flattering  offers  from  institutions  in  other  cities,  but  refused  them 
all  until  the  powerful  Continental  National  Bank  of  Chicago,  backed 
by  the  prestige  and  millions  of  the  Armours,  asked  him  to  join  it  as 
cashier. 

On  December  i,  1897,  when  he  entered  the  institution,  it  had  a 
capital  of  ^2,000,000  and  deposits  of  $14,000,000.  Now  the  institu- 
tion and  the  two  offshoots  formed  by  it  have  a  combined  capital  and 
surplus  of  over  $40,000,000  and  deposits  approximating  $400,000,000. 

From  cashier,  Mr.  Reynolds  stepped  first  to  vice-presidency  and 
later  (in  1906)  to  the  presidency  of  the  Continental  Bank.  Here  his 
restless  energy,  his  inordinate  capacity  for  hard  work,  his  aggressive- 
ness and  his  ambitions  had  full  play.  First  the  Continental  took  over 
two  small  institutions,  the  International  Bank  and  the  Globe  Na- 
tional Bank,  in  1898,  and  followed  this  up  by  acquiring  the  National 
Bank  of  North  America,  with  over  $10,000,000  deposits,  in  1904; 
the  American  Trust  &  Savings  Bank,  with  $34,000,000  deposits,  in 
1909;  the  Commercial  National  Bank,  with  nearly  $72,000,000  de- 
posits, in  1910;  and  the  Hibernian  Banking  Association,  with 
$26,000,000  deposits,  in  191 1. 

Mr.  Reynolds's  bank  has  fully  50  per  cent,  more  deposits  than  the 
total  deposits  of  all  Chicago  banks  when  he  went  there  twenty  years 
ago.  Of  Chicago's  increase  from  $240,000,00010  about  $1,500,000,000 
the  Continental  and  Commercial  has  been  responsible  for  nearly 
30  per  cent. 

Mr.  Reynolds  is  president  also  of  the  Continental  and  Commercial 
Trust  and  Savings  Bank  and  the  Hibernian  Banking  Association,  both 
owned  outright  by  the  parent  company. 

One  of  Mr.  Reynolds's  dreams  was  to  have  not  only  the  largest 
Bank  in  Chicago,  but  the  finest  bank  building  in  the  country.  It 
cost  $12,000,000  to  turn  this  dream  into  a  reality.  The  bank  building 
covers  a  larger  ground  area  than  any  office  building  in  the  world  and 
the  main  floor  of  the  bank,  measuring  160  x  324  feet,  with  ceilings 
seventy  feet  in  height  in  the  centre,  has  no  equal  in  this  or  any  other 
country.  Its  "windows"  number  ninety-two.  The  building  has 
three  miles  of  corridors.  Incidentally,  the  building  earned  on  the 
bank's  investment  82  per  cent,  in  the  second  year  and  has  been  un- 
qualifiedly successful  ever  since. 

Some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  business  done  may  be  gathered  from 
the  fact  that  over  1,100  clerks  are  employed  and  that  the  national 
bank  alone  handles  100,000  outside  checks  every  day,  while  its  clear- 
ing and  over-the-counter  business  brings  the  aggregate  number  of 


GEORGE  M.  REYNOLDS  293 

checks  up  to  from  200,000  to  350,000  per  day.  The  Reynolds  institu- 
tions have  a  combined  total  of  well  over  100,000  accounts,  including 
more  than  5,000  bank  depositors.  No  commercial  bank,  even  in  New 
York,  can  eclipse  such  totals. 

When  Reynolds  came  to  Chicago  as  cashier  of  the  Continental  he 
was  at  his  desk  and  well  into  the  day's  work  before  the  doors  were 
open  for  business.  He  perused  nearly  all  the  mail  that  came  into  the 
bank  in  order  to  familiarize  himself  thoroughly  with  the  business  and 
he  actually  signed  practically  75  per  cent,  of  all  the  outgoing  letters. 
He  worked  with  lightning  speed.  He  could  size  up  situations  at  a 
glance.  Also,  his  industry  became  infectious;  all  around  him  were 
inspired  to  do  faster  and  better  work. 

There  was  little  "luck"  in  his  rise. 

Here  was  this  man,  born  in  an  obscure  little  town  in  a  then  unde- 
veloped part  of  the  country,  surrounded  by  only  puny  enterprises 
and  having  little  direct  connection  with  great  centres  of  financial, 
commercial,  and  industrial  activity.  Yet,  when  only  twelve,  he  cast 
off  the  provincial  fetters.  His  acumen  in  subscribing  for  newspapers 
from  all  parts  of  the  country;  his  readiness  to  do  the  work  of  a  char- 
woman and  a  scavenger  in  order  to  help  the  little  bank  he  entered; 
his  willingness  to  jump  in  and  help  his  father  to  load  grain  cars  after 
having  worked  a  round  of  the  clock  in  the  bank;  the  resourcefulness 
and  pluck  he  exhibited  in  carrying  out  his  first  business  deal,  in  lum- 
ber; his  perception  of  the  value  of  studying  human  nature  and  of 
making  many  friends — all  these  things  and  the  spirit  behind  them 
meant  that  Reynolds  could  not  fail  to  make  his  mark  in  the  world. 

What  was  his  philosophy?  What  were  his  propelling  ideas  and 
ideals.''     What  things  did  he  find  helpful  in  attaining  success? 

I  cornered  Mr.  Reynolds  for  half  an  hour  at  his  desk  one  very  busy 
day  and  fired  these  questions  at  him.  With  characteristic  promptness 
and  directness  he  replied: 

"A  wide  acquaintance  is  a  great  asset.  I  attended  my  first  bankers* 
convention  while  I  was  still  a  youth  at  Panora.  I  have  noticed  bank- 
ers making  up  their  golf  matches  before  starting  for  a  convention. 
When  I  attend  conventions  I  play  the  business  game,  not  golf. 

"Studying  the  science  of  human  nature  has  helped  me  greatly. 
If  you  know  human  nature  you  know  how  to  handle  human  beings. 

"I  have  never  aspired  to  become  a  tremendously  rich  man.  The 
best  reward  is  consciousness  of  duty  well  done.  This  consciousness 
enables  a  man  to  sleep  at  the  end  of  the  day. 

"The  average  boy  wants  to  become  vice-president  in  a  year  or  two. 
Patience  is  indispensable.  But  if  a  young  man  always  strives  to  be 
agreeable  and  to  do  his  full  duty  without  spending  any  time  w^atching 
the  clock,  he  is  certain  to  have  a  fair  measure  of  success.     The  man 


294  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

who  makes  a  great  success  is  the  one  who  does  the  task  a  little  better 
than  the  other  fellows  and  who  shows  a  little  keener  insight  into  men 
and  things. 

"If  a  man  elects  to  play  poker  five  or  six  times  a  week  and  to  shine 
in  society,  he  must  not  complain  if  he  does  not  shine  in  his  business. 
The  man,  on  the  other  hand,  who  makes  riches  his  all-consuming  con- 
sideration and  ambition  must  not  be  surprised  if  people  turn  their 
backs  on  him  because  his  finer  instincts  have  become  blunted  and 
stunted. 

"You  cannot  undertake  to  develop  certain  qualities  in  others  with- 
out unconsciously  developing  the  same  qualities  in  yourself. 

"One  of  the  greatest  forms  of  satisfaction  comes  from  doing  some- 
thing for  other  people. 

"To  sum  up,  it  is  personality  that  counts.  Personality  embraces 
many  qualities,  such  as  neatness,  cheerfulness,  courtesy,  alertness, 
intelligence,  and  a  sound  knowledge  of  human  nature.  These  qualities 
spell  efficiency  and  efficiency  spells  success.  The  'all-round'  man  is 
the  highest  type  of  human  product,  higher  than  the  specialist,  be- 
cause the  'all-round'  man  must  be  able  to  handle  specialists  as  well  as 
others." 

Mr.  Reynolds  has  been  erroneously  accredited  with  having  taken 
no  vacation  for  many  years,  whereas  the  opposite  is  the  case,  for  he 
firmly  believes  in  the  efficacy  of  recreation  and  diversion  in  the  open 
air,  with  plenty  of  sunshine  and  exercise.  He  not  only  takes  frequent 
vacations  himself,  but  sees  to  it  that  his  associate  officers  have  gener- 
ous and  regular  vacations,  and,  furthermore,  that  they  are  given  a 
full  day  off  each  week  throughout  the  year. 

Discussing  banking,  Mr.  Reynolds  said:  "Candour  and  frankness 
will  carry  a  man  farther  than  subterfuge.  If  a  banker  feels  he  must 
refuse  a  loan  he  should  explain  frankly  his  reasons.  A  borrower 
should  never  be  made  to  feel  that  he  is  under  any  obligations  to  a 
banker  outside  of  the  repayment  of  the  loan.  Borrowers  are  as 
necessary  to  the  success  of  a  bank  as  depositors.  In  panic  times  the 
best  policy  is  to  help  customers  in  every  possible  way,  not  to  squeeze 
them.     Confidence  is  the  greatest  asset  in  banking." 

Incidentally,  Mr.  Reynolds  does  not  own  a  share  of  stock  in  any 
railroad  or  industrial  company  doing  business  with  his  bank.  He 
feels  he  can  serve  his  stockholders  better  if  he  has  no  "entangling  al- 
liances" which  might  warp  his  judgment  in  deciding  questions  affect- 
ing his  bank  and  its  customers.  He  is,  however,  a  director  in  the 
home  bank  where  he  started. 

Mr.  Reynolds  for  many  years  has  given  away  one-tenth  of  his  in- 
come annually — that  is,  he  and  his  wife  together.  He  married  very 
young.     "It  was  the  best  day's  business  I  ever  did,"  he  says  of  this 


GEORGE  M.  REYNOLDS  295 

step  in  his  career.  Indeed,  Mr.  Reynolds  attributes  more  than  half 
his  success  to  Mrs.  Reynolds.  She  is  noted  for  her  activities  on  behalf 
of  crippled  children  and  homeless  waifs.  She  is  a  talented  musician. 
Their  only  child,  Earle  H.  Reynolds,  is  old  enough  to  be  a  chum  of 
his  parents.  Earle  is  duplicating  the  success  of  his  father.  He  re- 
fused to  work  in  his  father's  institution  and  struck  out  for  himself. 
He  is  already,  though  only  twenty-nine,  president  of  the  People's 
Trust  and  Savings  Bank,  with  deposits  running  into  eight  figures. 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 

JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  is  the  most  impressive,  the  broad- 
est-visioned,  the  most  fundamental-thinking  man  I  have 
ever  met.  Napoleon  "thought  in  Empires,"  Cecil  Rhodes 
"thought  in  Continents."  John  D.  Rockefeller  thinks  universally; 
his  yard-stick  is  the  world,  the  whole  human  family.  His  invariable 
test  is:  How  will  it  affect  mankind  I  He  looks  and  acts  beyond  paro- 
chialism, beyond  provincialism,  even  beyond  nationalism. 

For  example: 

"The  support  of  a  hospital  is  a  local  duty  and  ought  to  be  regarded 
by  local  people  as  a  privilege,"  he  told  me;  "the  hospital  serves  only 
its  own  locality.  But  if  a  body  of  earnest,  brainy,  resourceful,  sci- 
entifically minded  medical  men  can  be  enabled  to  conduct  researches 
that  may  evolve  new  knowledge  which  can  be  placed  at  the  service  of 
all,  then  something  is  accomplished  for  the  whole  human  family. 
That  is  a  duty  and  a  privilege  beyond  any  one  locality.  That  is 
something  a  rich  man  can  properly  aid." 

"What  has  given  you  the  greatest  satisfaction  in  having  been  able 
to  do?"  I  asked. 

We  were  playing  golf,  and  Mr.  Rockefeller  played  one  of  his  char- 
acteristically straight  iron  shots  before  replying.  Then  he  replied 
only  indirectly. 

"  If  in  all  our  giving  we  had  never  done  more  than  has  been  achieved 
by  the  fine,  able,  modest  men  of  the  Medical  Institute,  it  would  have 
justified  all  the  money  and  all  the  effort  we  have  spent.  Only  a  day 
or  two  ago  I  received  a  report  that  we  have  discovered  a  cure  for  the 
terrible  war  condition  known  as  gas  gangrene.  The  tests  convince 
these  scientists  that  the  new  serum  will  prevent  in  large  measure  that 
destructive  disease  which  has  already  maimed  for  life  or  killed  thou- 
sands of  young  men.  Isn't  that  a  splendid  and  timely  work  these 
men  have  just  done  ? " 

Mr.  Rockefeller  will  converse  a  whole  day  without  using  the  word 
"I"  half-a-dozen  times.  He  always  says  "We" — unless  telling  a  joke 
at  his  own  expense.  Once,  before  I  knew  Mr.  Rockefeller  well,  when 
he  said  "we"  in  reply  to  a  question  I  asked  about  an  early  incident  of 
his  career,  I  was  puzzled  as  to  whom  he  meant .  "But  who  were  the 
'we?'"  I  asked.  He  was  embarrassed.  He  alone  had  done  it,  I  had 
gathered  from  the  records.     "Oh — well — my  brother  William  came 

296 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  297 

in  with  us — later,"  was  the  halting,  evasive  reply  born  of  mod- 
esty. 

Another  time  I  had  cornered  him  into  admitting  that  it  was  he  and 
not  "we"  that  had  done  a  certain  thing.  Mr.  Rockefeller  didn't 
quite  like  it. 

"You  must  be  careful,"  he  cautioned,  "if  you  write  anything  about 
me,  not  to  make  me  out  as  having  done  anything  more  than  the  other 
men  you  write  about." 

I  mention  these  incidents  to  illustrate  the  trait  that  first  strikes 
one  in  Mr.  Rockefeller,  his  innate,  unassumed  modesty,  his  unobtru- 
siveness,  his  utter  lack  of  ostentatious  self-assertion.  Pressure  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  Mr.  Rockefeller  several  years  ago  to  have  him 
assist  in  preparing  a  full  biography  of  his  life  and  work. 

"No,"  said  Mr.  Rockefeller  in  all  sincerity,  "I  have  never  done 
anything  worth  writing  a  book  about."  And  no  biography  was 
written. 

I  count  myself  exceedingly  fortunate  in  having  been  able  to  induce 
Mr.  Rockefeller  to  recount  some  of  his  early  struggles  and  experi- 
ences, to  emit  occasional  flashes  of  his  philosophy  of  life,  and  to  ex- 
press his  views  on  the  ever-fresh  and  timely  subject  of  the  attainment 
of  success.  "Don't  make  me  preach,"  was  another  of  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller's modesty-inspired  injunctions  to  me;  he  simply  abjures  the 
idea  of  being  represented  as  posing  as  an  authority  or  a  self-appointed 
dictator  on  any  subject.  "Don't  take  my  son's  say-so  about  me — 
he's  biased,"  was  another  of  Mr.  Rockefeller's  exhortations,  given 
laughingly  in  front  of  John  D.  Rockefeller,  Jr. 

Here  are  some  of  the  pointed  sentences  dropped  informally — at  golf 
or  automobiling  or  at  the  table — by  the  most  remarkable  man  the 
world  of  business  has  ever  produced: 

"The  most  important  thing  for  a  young  man  starting  life  is  to  estab- 
lish a  credit — a  reputation,  character.  He  must  inspire  the  complete 
confidence  of  others. 

"The  hardest  problem  all  through  my  business  career  was  to  obtain 
enough  capital  to  do  all  the  business  I  wanted  to  do  and  could  do 
given  the  necessary  amount  of  money.  You  must  establish  a  credit 
(character)  before  you  can  hope  to  have  people  lend  you  money. 

"The  first  large  bank  loan  I  received — it  w^as  $2,000,  a  big  sum  in 
those  days — was  granted  me  only  because  the  head  of  the  bank  made 
himself  familiar  with  my  mode  of  life,  my  habits,  my  industry,  and 
learned  from  my  former  employers  that  I  was  a  young  man  who  could 
be  trusted. 

"Nowadays  young  men — and  others — want  to  have  too  much  done 
for  them.  They  want  to  be  presented  with  bonuses  and  to  receive 
all  sorts  of  concessions. 


298  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"To  get  on,  young  men  should  study  their  business  thoroughly; 
work  carefully,  accurately,  and  industriously;  save  their  money,  and 
then  either  become  partners  by  buying  a  share  of  the  business  or  go 
out  and  form  a  business  of  their  own. 

"They  must  be  self-reliant.  They  must  not  expect  to  have  things 
handed  them  for  nothing.  They  must  make  themselves  strong  by 
becoming  able,  brainy  workers,  by  establishing  a  credit  and  by  accum- 
ulating every  dollar  they  can  save  after  doing  their  full  duty  to  so- 
ciety. 

"The  way  business  is  conducted  now,  it  is  easy  for  a  man  to  buy 
shares  in  it  and  thus  participate  in  the  profits. 

"As  for  opportunities,  there  are  ten  to-day  for  every  one  there  was 
sixty  years  ago.  There  were  then  few  opportunities  and  very  scanty 
means  of  taking  advantage  of  them.  Now  large  opportunities 
constantly  spring  up  everywhere  and  we  have  a  wonderful  currency 
and  credit  system  for  enabling  people  to  take  hold  of  them." 

I  asked  Mr.  Rockefeller  how  he  came  to  conceive  the  idea  of  form- 
ing the  Standard  Oil  Company,  the  first  large-scale  industrial  combi- 
nation in  modern  times.  His  scrupulous  care  to  give  credit  to  others 
and  to  minimize  his  own  efforts  again  obtruded. 

"We  were  not  really  the  first  to  adopt  the  combination  idea," 
he  corrected  me.  (It  was  this  "we"  that  tripped  me  up.)  "The 
Western  Union  Telegraph  people  had  begun  to  buy  up  two  or  three 
small  telegraph  lines  and  add  them  to  their  system.  The  Standard 
Oil  Company  was  less  the  fruit  of  an  idea  than  an  outgrowth  of  neces- 
sity. The  oil  business  was  so  demoralized  thatnearly  every  refinery  was 
threatened  with  bankruptcy.  Prices  were  below  cost  of  production. 
Competition  had  been  very  keen,  not  to  say  cruel.  There  were  many 
bitternesses.  Conditions  had  become  impossible.  Something  had 
to  be  done  if  the  industry  was  to  be  saved. 

"  I  wrote  our  largest  competitor  asking  if  he  would  meet  me  at  a  cer- 
tain time  and  place.  Although  we  had  not  spoken  for  a  year — as  I  told 
you,  there  were  keen  bitternesses  at  that  time — he  agreed.  We 
talked  over  the  whole  oil  situation.  He  realized  that  heroic  measures 
would  be  necessary  to  prevent  general  ruin.  He  then  agreed  to  sell 
his  property  at  a  fair  valuation  and  to  come  in  with  us.  After  that 
other  properties  were  acquired  in  the  same  way." 

"Where  did  you  get  the  capital,  Mr.  Rockefeller?"  I  asked.  "You 
told  me  that  capital  was  chronically  scarce." 

The  veteran  founder  of  the  most  wonderful  business  enterprise 
ever  created  by  the  brain  of  man  smiled  and,  with  a  twinkle,  re- 
marked: "That  had  Its  funny  sides.  After  we  had  had  a  property 
appraised,  and  a  price  satisfactory  to  all  had  been  agreed  upon,  we 
offered  either  shares  in  the  Standard  Oil  Company,  or  cash,"  Mr.  Rocke- 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  299 

feller  laughed.  He  hesitated,  as  if  undecided  about  telling  more, 
I  hinted  that  he  must  have  something  interesting  in  his  mind. 

"Yes,  it  does  seem  amusing  now,  although  it  was  a  matter  of  grave 
concern  to  us  then,  I  would  whip  out  our  check  book  with  rather  a 
lordly  air  and  remark,  as  if  it  were  a  matter  of  entire  indifference  to 
us:  'Shall  I  write  a  check  or  would  you  prefer  payment  in  Standard 
Oil  shares?'  Most  of  them  took  the  shares — very  wisely,  as  it  turned 
out.  In  some  cases  where  the  sellers  were  not  very  well  up  in  business 
matters  we  persuaded  them  that  it  would  be  better  for  them  to  take 
at  least  part  of  their  payment  in  shares  because  we  ourselves  felt  very 
strongly  that  this  would  be  more  profitable  for  them  in  the  end," 

"What  did  you  do  when  cash  was  demanded  instead  of  stock — you 
were  always  short  of  capital?"  I  asked, 

"We  managed  to  scramble  through  somehow.  By  this  time  we 
had  learned  fairly  well  how  to  get  banks  to  lend  us  money,"  was  Mr. 
Rockefeller's  reply, 

"To  what  do  you  attribute  the  phenomenal  success  of  the  Standard 
Oil  Company?"  I  next  asked. 

"To  others,"  was  Mr,  Rockefeller's  lightning  rejoinder. 

I  begged  to  question  the  accuracy  of  this  explanation.  We  were 
walking  from  a  teeing  ground  after  two  good  drives.  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller stopped,  leaned  his  head  toward  me,  and  said  in  a  sort  of  con- 
fidential tone: 

"I  will  tell  you  something.  People  persist  in  thinking  that  I  was  a 
tremendous  worker,  always  at  it  early  and  late,  summer  and  winter. 
The  real  truth  is  that  I  was  what  would  now  be  called  a  "slacker" 
after  I  reached  my  middle  thirties.  I  used  to  take  long  vacations  at 
my  Cleveland  home  every  summer  and  spent  my  time  planting  and 
transplanting  trees,  building  roads,  doing  landscape  gardening,  driv- 
ing horses,  and  enjoying  myself  with  my  family,  keeping  in  touch  with 
business  by  private  telegraph  wire.  I  never,  from  the  time  I  first 
entered  an  office,  let  business  engross  all  my  time  and  attention;  I 
always  took  an  active  interest  in  Sunday-school  and  Church  work, 
in  children,  and,  if  I  might  say  so,  in  doing  little  things  for  friendless 
and  lonely  and  poor  people.  I  feel  sincerely  sorry  for  some  of  the 
business  men  who  occasionally  come  to  see  me;  they  have  allowed 
their  business  affairs  to  take  such  complete  possession  of  them  that 
they  have  no  thought  for  anything  else  and  have  no  time  to  really  live 
as  rational  human  beings. 

"Our  success  was  largely  due  to  our  having  been  able  to  gather  to- 
gether a  group  of  the  brainiest  men  in  the  business,  men  of  great  busi- 
ness aptitude,  earnest  and  hardworking,  forceful  and  honest  men  who, 
although  possessing  strong  individualities,  yet  worked  together  for  the 
one  common  aim,  the  building  up  of  a  sound,  successful  business. 


30O  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Sometimes  there  were  differences  in  views,  but  our  policy  was  'All 
hands  above  the  table,'  and  we  would  sit  two  whole  days,  if  neces- 
sary, fighting  a  proposition  out  until  an  agreement  was  reached.  We 
never  could  get  too  many  men  of  great  brains  to  join  us;  there  were  no 
fears,  no  jealousies  on  this  score." 

As  an  afterthought,  Mr.  Rockefeller  added:  "When  you  think  of 
the  calibre  and  the  character  of  the  men  who  worked  together  for  so 
many  years  isn't  it  ridiculous  to  think  that  they  could  have  done  so 
were  they  engaged  in  anything  dishonest  or  doing  anything  which 
must  be  kept  secret.''  Had  these  men  not  been  engaged  in  honourable 
work  how  could  they  have  stayed  together  and  pulled  together  with- 
out a  rupture  so  many  years?" 

No  American  business  man  has  ever  been  the  target  of  more  vi- 
tuperation than  John  D.  Rockefeller.  When  I  ventured  to  mention 
this  matter  I  expected  Mr.  Rockefeller  to  drop  his  mild,  kindly  tone 
and  the  note  of  charitableness  which  had  run  through  all  his  conversa- 
tion. Instead,  my  remark  served  but  as  an  occasion  for  the  revealing 
of  another  phase  of  Mr.  Rockefeller's  bigness,  broadness,  tolerance, 
and  charitableness. 

"Yes,  we  have  been  misrepresented  a  great  deal  and  accused  of 
many  things  we  never  did  and  would  not  dream  of  doing,"  he  replied 
in  even  voice.  "  But  while  I  won't  deny  that  some  of  the  things  writ- 
ten and  said  hurt  very  keenly  and  deeply  indeed,  I  never  allowed  my- 
self to  harbour  resentment  or  bitterness,  for  I  did  not  forget  that  it  was 
natural  that  some  who  had  not  succeeded  in  the  measure  we  had 
should  feel  disappointed  and  aggrieved.  That  was  what  we  had  to 
expect  and  be  prepared  to  bear.  I  never  for  a  moment  doubted  that, 
when  the  people  understood  things  as  they  really  were,  they  would  be 
fair  in  their  judgment.  The  whole  record  may  not  be  made  plain 
for  years,  but  I  am  satisfied  that  twenty-five  years  from  now  the  peo- 
ple will  understand  and  will  judge  us  according  to  the  truth  and  not 
by  the  misrepresentations.  I  have  no  doubt  as  to  the  justice  of  the 
verdict." 

When  I  turned  the  conversation  one  day  to  the  subject  of  giving, 
Mr.  Rockefeller  manifested  keen  interest.  I  mentioned  to  him  that 
in  course  of  my  association  with  the  most  notable  financial  and  busi- 
ness leaders  in  the  country  they  had  emphasized  even  more  than  his 
business  achievements  the  efficacy  of  his  philanthropies — instead  of 
trying  to  mitigate  evils,  he  had  gone  to  the  very  roots  of  the  causes  of 
human  ills  and  evils  and  had  striven  to  effect  fundamental  remedies 
for  their  eradication. 

"Giving  is  not  a  thing  of  to-day  or  yesterday  with  me,  as  some 
people  seem  to  think,"  Mr.  Rockefeller  replied  with  unusual  earnest- 
ness.    "I  began  to  give  away  a  part  of  my  income  regularly  from  the 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  301 

time  I  earned  $25  a  month,  and  I  never  ceased  that  practice.  My 
mother  taught  me  to  help  others,  and  I  was  extremely  fortunate  in 
having  the  heartiest  cooperation  of  my  wife  and,  later,  my  children, 
particularly  my  son,  in  this  work.  Without  the  sympathetic  en- 
couragement and  assistance  of  the  whole  family  we  might  not  have 
been  able  to  do  what  little  we  have  done.  We  all  felt  that  the  giving 
of  money  demanded  just  as  careful  study  and  as  painstaking  attention 
as  the  making  of  money. 

"Just  as  when  I  entered  business  I  reasoned  that  the  best  and  big- 
gest field  to  get  into  was  one  which  would  supply  something  useful 
having  the  whole  world  as  a  potential  market,  so  we  reasoned  that  in 
our  giving  we  should  also  aim  at  doing  something  which  might 
benefit  the  world  in  general — the  people  as  a  whole.  This  has  been 
our  guiding  principle,  to  benefit  as  many  people  as  possible.  Instead 
of  giving  alms  to  beggars,  if  anything  can  be  done  to  remove  the 
causes  which  lead  to  the  existence  of  beggars  then  something  deeper 
and  broader  and  more  worth  while  will  have  been  accomplished.  In 
the  same  way,  if  the  best  doctors  in  the  world  can  be  given  facilities 
to  conduct  experiments  and  researches  year  after  year,  going  to  any 
part  of  the  world  and  spending  whatever  sums  are  necessary  in  their 
work;  if  by  means  of  such  scientific  efforts  new  knowledge  is  acquired 
and  new  cures  are  devised  for  the  elimination  of  diseases,  then  the 
benefits  of  this  work  become  valuable  for  the  whole  human  race." 

Education  Mr.  Rockefeller  regards  as  a  panacea  for  many  of  the 
world's  troubles.  Since  ignorance  is  responsible  for  most  of  the 
world's  misery,  by  doing  away  with  ignorance  and  substituting  there- 
for knowledge  a  long  step  is  taken  toward  the  abolition  of  misery. 
Hence  Mr.  Rockefeller's  colossal  donations  for  the  furtherance  of 
education. 

I  touched  upon  the  furore  which  has  been  created  by  the  experi- 
ment in  eliminating  Greek  and  Latin  from  the  college  curriculum, 
which  the  General  Education  Board  is  planning  to  make. 

"It  has  stirred  things  up,"  Mr.  Rockefeller  replied  spiritedly;  "but 
this  alone  will  do  good.  It  will  bring  out  all  sides  of  the  question  and 
from  it  all  something  should  be  gained.  I  myself  did  not  have  any 
Greek  or  Latin,  but  one  of  my  sons-in-law  is  very  fond  of  Latin  and 
always  corresponds  in  Latin  with  one  of  his  boys.  I  mention  this  to 
let  you  understand  that  I  am  not  prejudiced  one  way  or  the  other." 

"Who  is  the  greatest  of  all  the  business  men  you  have  known?" 
I  once  asked  Mr.  Rockefeller  when  a  blow-out  stopped  the  automobile 
in  which  v.e  were  riding  and  thus  gave  an  excellent  opportunity  for 
talking.  It  was  at  the  side  of  a  wood,  and  Mr.  Rockefeller  became 
interested  in  his  favourite  hobby,  trees.  I  suggested  one  or  two 
names.     He  still  kept  looking  at  some  fine  forest  specimens. 


302  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"Did  you  read  a  little  article  that  was  printed  the  other  day  about 
Mr.  Gates?"  he  finally  remarked.  I  had.  "Well,  now,  in  anything 
you  may  write  about  me,  don't  forget  to  explain  that  Mr.  Gates  has 
been  the  guiding  genius  in  all  our  giving.  He  came  to  us  first  to 
undertake  certain  business  matters  requiring  talent  of  a  high  order  and 
he  showed  phenomenal  business  ability.  He  combined  with  this  the 
rare  quality — born,  no  doubt,  because  he  had  the  right  kind  of  heart 
— of  being  able  to  direct  the  distribution  of  money  with  great  wis- 
dom. We  all  owe  much  to  Mr.  Gates,  and  his  helpfulness  should 
be  generously  recognized.  He  combines  business  skill  and  philan- 
thropic aptitude  to  a  higher  degree  than  any  other  man  I  have  ever 
known." 

From  which  I  would  deduce  that  Frederick  T.  Gates — the  man  who 
was  instrumental  in  negotiating  Mr.  Rockefeller's  first  gift  to  the 
University  of  Chicago  and  has  for  many  years  shared  with  John  D. 
Rockefeller,  Jr.,  the  supervision  of  the  Rockefeller  philanthropies — 
has  been  Mr.  Rockefeller's  most  valuable  personal  aide. 

On  the  subject  of  men  Mr.  Rockefeller  said:  "Men,  not  machin- 
ery or  plants,  make  an  organization.  The  right  kind  of  business  men 
will  build  up  an  organization  capable  of  producing  a  large  volume  of  a 
good  product  at  a  low  price,  the  three  things  essential  to  success. 
These  men  will  introduce  the  right  kind  of  appliances  for  the  handling 
of  their  business;  they  will  carefully  conserve  and  utilize  all  by- 
products so  as  to  prevent  waste;  they  will  know  how  to  market  their 
products  in  the  largest  and  most  economical  way.  They  will  also 
be  big  enough  to  know  how  to  handle  workers  successfully." 

I  brought  up  the  subject  of  speculation.  Mr.  Rockefeller  had 
emphatic  views  and  expressed  them  with  unusual  animation. 

"We  used  to  be  accused  of  speculating  in  everything  known  to 
Wall  Street.  If  was  not  true,"  declared  Mr.  Rockefeller.  "The 
Standard  Oil  Company  never  owned  or  controlled  a  single  bank  or 
trust  company  or  railroad  or  any  other  corporation  not  directly  con- 
nected with  its  own  business.  Certain  personal  investments  of  mine  did 
not  turn  out  satisfactory  and  instead  of  leaving  the  sinking  ship,  we,  as 
individuals,  tried  to  save  them  by  putting  in  more  money  and  im- 
proving the  management.  That  was  how  I  came  to  be  interested  in 
certain  mining  properties  and,  as  an  outgrowth  of  them,  in  ore-carry- 
ing ships. 

"The  success  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  was  largely  due  to  the 
fact  that  for  many  years  those  connected  with  it  concentrated  all  their 
energies  to  developing  it  and  extending  its  ramifications  to  other 
countries.  I  kept  denying  the  charges  that  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany was  speculating  in  the  stock  market  time  and  time  again  until  I 
became  tired.     The  charges,  no  doubt,  were  based  on  the  unfortu- 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  303 

nate  fact  that  certain  interests  connected  with  the  company  entered 
into  more  or  less  speculative  operations.     The  company  never  did. 

"I  always  opposed  putting  Standard  Oil  shares  on  the  Stock  Ex- 
change because  I  did  not  want  to  have  them  become  the  playthings 
of  speculators.  It  was  better  that  all  our  people  should  concentrate 
their  attention  on  developing  the  business  rather  than  be  distracted 
in  any  way  by  the  stock  ticker.  The  oil  business,  you  know,  is  liable 
to  sudden  and  violent  fluctuations,  new  fields  are  discovered  which 
sometimes  send  down  prices  very  sharply  while  at  other  times  and 
places  sources  of  supply  give  out.  If  our  shares  had  been  listed  in  the 
stock  market  they  might  have  become  favourite  objects  of  speculation 
and  gambling.  To  this  day  our  shares  are  not  listed  on  the  New  York 
Stock  Exchange." 

No  matter  what  phase  of  life — whether  social,  religious,  financial, 
or  business — was  under  discussion,  I  found  Mr.  Rockefeller  always 
taking  a  world-wide  view,  always  broad,  always  tolerant,  never  con- 
demning others,  insistent  upon  minimizing  his  own  achievements. 
He  actually  does  not  think  of  himself  as  having  been  the  architect 
of  the  most  efficient  business  organization  in  history.  He  does  not 
think  of  himself  as  the  richest  man  in  the  world — indeed,  he  takes  so 
detached  a  view  of  his  wealth  that  he  speaks  as  if  it  did  not  belong 
to  him  at  all,  but  was  merely  something  to  be  devoted  solely  for  the 
progress  and  betterment  of  mankind.  He  will  speak  of  "those  rich 
men"  as  if  he  did  not  belong  to  that  class  at  all:  as  he  views  it,  his 
money  is  not  his  in  any  real  sense,  but  is  a  trust  to  be  used  according 
to  the  best  judgment  of  the  ablest  men  that  can  be  brought  together 
to  study  its  use  so  as  to  further  the  greatest  good  of  the  greatest 
number. 

The  Rockefeller  homes,  those  of  both  father  and  son,  have  been 
on  a  strict  war-ration  basis  for  many  months.  The  meals  served  by 
the  richest  family  in  the  world  are  more  simple  and  less  expensive 
than  those  indulged  in  by  the  average  American.  The  Rockefellers 
do  not  take  the  view  that  because  they  have  the  money,  they  are 
entitled  to  buy  and  consume  as  much  as  their  fancy  might  choose. 
Three  courses  is  their  maximum.  "We  must  all  do  what  we  can  to 
save  food  for  the  millions  who  are  suffering  starvation,"  remarked  Mr. 
Rockefeller  at  one  meal. 

And  may  I  here  digress  to  explode  the  popular  fallacy  that  John 
D.  Rockefeller  eats  only  bread  and  milk.  I  have  dined  oftener  than 
once  with  him  and  he  ate  as  much  as  I  did. 

I  am  tempted  to  go  on  and  on  quoting  replies  given  by  Mr.  Rocke- 
feller to  my  questions  on  all  sorts  of  subjects,  but  I  must  here  confine 
myself  to  merely  a  brief  outline  of  his  career. 

John    Davison    Rockefeller    is    come    of  old    French    (Norman) 


304  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

stock.  The  first  Rockefeller  to  migrate  to  America  came  from  Hol- 
land in  1650.  Mr.  Rockefeller's  grandfather  married  Lucy  Avery, 
of  a  famous  Connecticut  family  which  traced  its  ancestry  back  to  Eg- 
bert, the  first  king  of  England.  Their  eldest  son,  William  Avery 
Rockefeller,  married  Eliza  Davison,  and  John  Davison  Rockefeller 
was  their  oldest  son,  the  second  of  six  children. 

The  Rockefeller  children  were  taught  the  value  of  thrift,  the  neces- 
sity for  working  industriously,  and  the  wisdom  of  managing  their 
affairs  carefully  and  thoughtfully.  They  were  encouraged  by  re- 
wards for  work  well  done  and  very  early  John  Davison  exhibited  busi- 
ness acumen  by  electing  to  raise  a  brood  of  turkeys  which  could  fend 
for  themselves  for  the  most  part,  so  that  when  he  sold  them  the 
amount  realized  was  very  much  net  profit.  The  proceeds  he  lent  at 
7  per  cent.  The  systematically  kept  records  of  this  first  business 
venture  are  among  Mr.  Rockefeller's  cherished  possessions.  He  was 
then  not  more  than  nine  years  old.  He  learned  also  how  to  milk  cows, 
tend  cattle,  work  in  the  field,  and  do  general  chores. 

The  family  removed  from  Richford,  Tioga  County,  New  York, 
where  John  Davison  was  born  on  July  8,  1839,  to  a  farm  on  the 
Owasco  Lake,  near  Moravia,  when  the  lad  was  some  three  or  four 
years  of  age.  From  here  he  removed  to  the  valley  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, near  Owego,  at  the  age  of  ten  years.  At  the  age  of  four- 
teen he  removed  to  Cleveland,  Ohio.  His  elementary  schooling  was 
assiduously  supplemented  by  his  mother,  and  he  later  entered  high 
school,  which  he  left  at  fifteen,  and  took  a  short  course  at  a  com- 
mercial college  in  Cleveland. 

At  sixteen  he  started  to  find  work.  He  tried  stores,  factories,  of- 
fices, in  vain.  Finally  a  firm  of  forwarding  and  produce  commission 
merchants,  Hewitt  &  Tuttle,  engaged  him  as  office-boy  and  assistant 
bookkeeper,  on  September  26,  1855,  a  date  whose  anniversary  he 
celebrates  every  year.  No  wages  were  stipulated  for,  and  for  three 
months  he  worked  without  knowing  what  he  was  to  receive — an 
arrangement  not  quite  typical  of  his  composition.  But  the  one 
thing  which  interested  him  was  a  chance  to  make  himself  useful  to 
his  employer;  his  compensation  was  entirely  secondary.  At  the 
end  of  the  year  he  was  paid  $50  for  his  fourteen  weeks  and  started 
the  new  year  at  ^25  a  month.  In  the  year  following  the  ^2,000-a- 
year  bookkeeper  resigned  and  young  Rockefeller  took  the  place  at 
^500  a  year.  The  third  year  he  received  $550.  The  fourth  year 
he  asked  $800,  and  when  only  $700  was  offered  he  decided  to  resign 
and  to  start  a  business. 

He  was  not  yet  twenty  years  old  but  he  had  used  his  time  to  ad- 
vantage. "I  had  learned  everything  I  could  about  the  firm's  activi- 
ties," Mr.  Rockefeller  recalled  to  me.     "I  checked  up  every  bill  that 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  305 

came  in  and  made  it  my  business  to  see  that  my  employers  were  not 
cheated.  I  recall  that  there  was  one  captain  who  was  always  putting 
in  claims  for  damages  to  shipments — we  handled  all  kinds  of  import 
and  export  trade  in  addition  to  produce — and  I  decided  to  investigate. 
I  insisted  upon  examining  all  the  documents  and  shipments,  and  I 
found  that  he  had  been  making  entirely  unwarranted  claims.  By 
taking  just  as  keen  an  interest  in  everything  that  went  on  as  the 
partners  themselves,  I  learned  a  great  deal.  I  got  an  insight  into 
how  business  was  handled,  into  systematic  keeping  of  records,  into 
every  phase  of  office  management.  I  saw,  too,  how  business  was 
financed.  Then  I  also  had  opportunity  to  see  how  customers  were 
treated." 

Meanwhile  the  young  man  was  "establishing  a  credit"  outside  his 
business  circle.  He  had  become,  first,  an  enthusiastic  member  of  the 
Sunday-school.  At  sixteen  he  was  made  clerk  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  struggling  mission  known  as  the  Erie  Street  Baptist 
Church,  which  is  now  the  Euclid  Avenue  Baptist  Church.  Before 
he  was  eighteen  he  was  elected  a  trustee  of  the  church  and  his 
younger  brother,  William,  succeeded  him  as  clerk.  The  little  church 
was  threatened  with  disaster  by  the  imminent  closing  of  a  mortgage. 
John  D.  Rockefeller  decided  to  save  it.  He  took  up  a  position  at 
the  church  door  and  buttonholed  every  one  who  came  out  for  a  dona- 
tion or  a  pledge  for  the  wiping  out  of  the  debt,  setting  an  example  by 
donating  a  substantial  amount  from  his  own  pocket.  Of  course  he 
succeeded.  He  became  a  leader  and  later  the  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday-school,  was  constantly  searching  out  lonely  young  men  and 
bringing  them  into  church  fellowship,  and  assisted  poor  people  to  the 
limit  of  his  means.  The  reputation,  he  was  thus  conscientiously 
building  up  was  to  stand  him  in  good  stead  when  he  entered 
business  on  his  own  account.  His  industry,  his  energy,  his  enthusiasm, 
his  alertness,  his  ability,  and  his  optimism  impressed  all  with  whom 
he  came  into  touch. 

He  engaged  in  the  produce  business,  in  1859,  with  Morris  B. 
Clark,  a  man  ten  years  his  senior.  Mr.  Rockefeller  had  saved  $800 
and  his  father  lent  him  ^1,000  at  10  per  cent,  interest  to  enable 
him  to  supply  his  share  of  the  capital. 

"I  went  out  and  visited  farmers  and  others  all  over  the  adjoining 
territory,  talked  with  them,  told  them  we  would  be  glad  of  an  oppor- 
tunity to  serve  them  at  any  time,  did  not  ask  them  to  change  their  ex- 
isting connections,  but  left  a  card  in  case  they  would  like  to  get  in 
touch  with  us  at  some  future  time,"  Mr.  Rockefeller  recounted. 
"The  results  of  this  personal  solicitation  were  far  beyond  our  ex- 
pectations. Business  poured  in  to  us  in  such  volume  that  we  did 
more  than  ^500,000  worth  the  first  year." 


3o6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

It  was  before  Mr.  Rockefeller  was  twenty-two  years  of  age  that  he 
became  interested  in  oil.  Several  refineries  were  started  in  Cleve- 
land to  prepare  crude  oil  for  illuminating  purposes  and  Mr.  Rockefel- 
ler, already  a  shrewd  business  man,  always  on  the  lookout  for  oppor- 
tunities, foresaw  that  this  new  industry  possessed  unlimited  poten- 
tialities. He  made  investigations  and  calculations.  He  grasped  the 
fact  that  here  was  a  substance  which  could  probably  be  brought 
within  the  use  of  every  household.  He  lost  no  time  in  helping  to 
establish  the  oil  refining  firm  of  Andrews,  Clark  &  Company,  in  1862, 
of  which  Clark  and  Rockefeller  were  the  financial  and  business  man- 
agers. And  three  years  later  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  commis- 
sion business  to  M.  B.  Clark  and  bought  out  the  interests  of  his 
partners  in  Andrews,  Clark  &  Company,  and  joined  with  Samuel 
Andrews  to  continue  the  business  under  the  firm  name  of  Rockefeller 
&  Andrews. 

"We  realized  then  that  here  was  something  the  whole  world  would 
want,  but  we  had  no  idea  that  our  business  would  develop  into  the 
proportions  it  did,"  Mr.  Rockefeller  modestly  confessed.  "Indeed, 
I  may  say  that,  while  I  was  always  ambitious  and  always  willing  to 
work  hard,  I  had  no  vision  as  big  as  the  subsequent  realities.  Those 
associated  with  me  and  I,  myself,  simply  did  our  day's  work  the  best 
we  could,  doing  what  seemed  wisest,  and  trying  always  to  plan  for  a 
larger  and  larger  future.  We  did  not  seek  momentary  advantages, 
but  tried  to  build  solidly  and  safely.  My  father  had  taught  me  this 
lesson  by  coming  to  me  at  the  most  awkward  moments  in  my  early 
business  life  and  demanding  repayment  of  his  loans.  He  did  this, 
of  course,  to  test  my  resourcefulness  and  my  ability  to  meet  sudden 
emergencies.  After  I  had  hustled  to  procure  his  money  he  would 
laugh  and  hand  it  back,  saying  he  did  not  need  it  but  was  glad  to 
know  I  was  able  to  meet  my  obligations." 

How  to  procure  capital  and  credit  to  handle  the  enormous  volume 
of  business  which  Mr.  Rockefeller's  enterprise  attracted  was  his  hard- 
est problem  during  those  creative  years.  Banking  facilities  were 
limited  and  the  maximum  his  own  bank  could  furnish  was  entirely 
insufficient  for  his  rapidly  growing  needs.  In  one  instance  a  bank 
president  met  Mr.  Rockefeller  on  the  street  and  gravely  told  him  that 
his  borrowings  had  become  so  heavy  that  Mr.  Rockefeller  must  come 
and  talk  the  situation  over  with  the  directors.  "I'll  be  delighted  to 
meet  the  directors,"  Mr.  Rockefeller  replied,  "for  I  need  a  great  deal 
more."     Mr.  Rockefeller  added:  "He  never  sent  for  me." 

As  the  business  grew,  the  oil  refining  firm  of  William  Rockefeller 
&  Company  was  established,  in  the  year  1866,  consisting  of  William 
Rockefeller  and  Rockefeller  and  Andrews,  with  a  refinery  adjoining 
the  works  of  Rockefeller  &  Andrews.    Later  the  firm  of  Rockefeller 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  307 

&  Company  was  established  in  New  York  City  to  manage  the  ex- 
port business  of  both  firms.  About  the  year  1867  H.  M.  Flagler 
and  S.  V.  Harkness  were  brought  into  a  firm,  which  included  all 
these  previously  organized  firms,  under  the  name  of  Rockefeller, 
Andrews  &  Flagler.  Spectacular  fortunes  had  been  earned  in  the  oil 
industry  and,  as  a  consequence,  the  field  had  become  overcrowded. 
More  oil  was  produced  than  the  market  could  absorb.  Even  the 
pioneer  work  done  by  the  Rockefeller  group  in  opening  up  foreign 
markets  could  not  keep  the  domestic  production  within  the  limits 
of  consumption.  The  selling  price  of  oil  fell  below  production  cost. 
Grievous  losses  were  incurred  and  many  people  went  to  the  wall. 
Others  frantically  sold  out  when  buyers  could  be  found.  Ruin  con- 
fronted the  whole  industry. 

In  1869  the  firm  of  Rockefeller,  Andrews  &  Flagler  was  merged 
into  the  Standard  Oil  Company  of  Ohio,  with  $1,000,000  capital,  and 
Mr.  Rockefeller  became  its  president.  He  never  once  lost  faith  in 
the  future  of  the  business  into  which  he  had  entered  only  after  mature 
deliberation.  Fires  might  sweep  away  valuable  plants;  important 
oil  fields  might  dry  up  over  night,  rendering  worthless  costly  appa- 
ratus; banks  might  refuse  to  risk  money  in  so  hazardous  a  business; 
prices  might  fall  to  disastrous  levels;  markets  might  become  glutted; 
foreign  oil  fields  might  threaten  to  dwarf  the  whole  American  out- 
put, yet  never  once  did  John  D.  Rockefeller  waver. 

Thirty  years  before  Morgan  grasped  and  acted  on  the  combination 
method  of  doing  business  d  la  Steel  Corporation,  Rockefeller,  with 
foresight,  courage,  and  resourcefulness,  introduced  the  combination 
idea  in  his  sphere.  One  tottering  concern  after  another  was  taken 
over  by  the  new  Standard  Oil  Company;  its  capital  was  doubled  and 
then  multiplied,  its  operations  were  extended  east,  west,  and  south, 
it  opened  up  foreign  territories,  and,  by  camel  and  human  transporta- 
tion, introduced  the  new  illuminant  into  even  the  remotest  parts  of 
China,  where  the  natives  were  supplied  with  oil  lamps  gratis. 

Only  a  company  owning  properties  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
could  withstand  the  risks  incidental  to  the  oil  business,  since  fire 
would  wipe  out  a  whole  plant  in  a  few  hours  or  the  flow  at  any  one 
point  could  stop  without  notice.  Only  a  large  company  could  afford 
to  spend  millions  in  improving  facilities,  in  constantly  opening  up  new 
territory,  and  in  reducing  costs.  Only  a  company  such  as  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  could  afford  to  build  thousands  of  miles  of  pipe  lines  to  do  away 
with  costly  processes  of  shipping  the  fluid  in  barrels.  Only  such  a 
company  could  afford  to  erect  huge  refineries  which  might  have  to  be 
discarded  at  any  moment.  Only  such  a  company  could  afford  to  de- 
sign and  build  expensive  tank  steamers  for  export  trade  and  tank  cars 
for  domestic  transportation.     Only  such   a  company  could  afford 


3o8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

to  send  agents  into  every  country  of  the  world  to  create  new  markets, 
often  against  bitter  opposition.  Only  such  a  company  could  under- 
take to  supply  large  quantities  with  unerring  regularity,  notwith- 
standing the  sudden  disasters  to  which  any  and  every  oil  property  was 
liable.  Only  such  a  mammoth  concern  could  cover  the  country  with 
facilities  to  supply  oil  direct  from  the  producer  to  the  millions  of  small 
consumers. 

As  Mr.  Rockefeller  quietly  observed:  "Our  business  didn't  grow  of 
its  own  accord.  We  didn't  simply  sit  still  and  do  nothing  but  draw 
in  dividends.  Our  business  grew  for  the  same  reasons  that  other  suc- 
cessful businesses  grow:  our  basic  principles  were  right;  we  dealt 
justly  with  everybody  and  met  our  obligations  promptly;  we  studied 
facts;  we  watched  for  opportunities  and  also  created  opportunities; 
we  spared  no  expense  and  no  effort  to  manufacture  a  product  of  the 
best  grade;  we  did  not  shortsightedly  curtail  our  market  by  charging 
exorbitant  prices  but  constantly  aimed  at  reducing  them  to  a  mini- 
mum so  as  to  encourage  wider  and  wider  consumption;  we  allowed 
neither  success  nor  temporary  setbacks  to  cause  us  to  lose  our  heads; 
and  always  we  were  careful  to  keep  our  financial  condition  sound  and 
strong,  resisting  all  temptation  and  all  suggestions  to  put  out  unwar- 
ranted amounts  of  shares  to  foster  speculation  or  create  inflation.  I 
can  speak  with  more  freedom  about  what  was  accomplished  in  later 
years,  when  our  business  grew  to  unimagined  proportions,  because  I 
personally  took  very  little  active  part  in  the  management  of  it.  I  re- 
tired in  the  early  nineties,  before  I  was  fifty-five,  and  have  visited  our 
offices  only  on  rare  occasions  since." 

This  is  in  no  sense  an  attempt  to  describe  the  growth  or  the  history 
of  Standard  Oil,  but  is  merely  a  feeble  effort  to  portray,  the  person- 
ality of  John  D.  Rockefeller,  to  bring  out  the  humility  of  the  man;  to 
outline  his  early  struggles,  his  extraordinary  industry  and  vigilance 
to  seize  opportunities,  his  broad  human  sympathies,  his  deep  sense  of 
stewardship  in  the  matter  of  the  money  that  has  come  under  his 
control,  his  insight  into  fundamentals  and  his  clearheadedness  in 
seeking  primary  causes  rather  than  attempting  to  assuage  evils.  I 
can  speak  of  Mr.  Rockefeller  only  as  I  have  found  him.  I  do  not  pre- 
sume to  pass  judgment  on  all  or  any  of  the  acts  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  or  those  who  followed  Mr.  Rockefeller  in  its  active  direc- 
tion. 

I  can  say  and  do  say  and  must  say,  however,  that  of  all  the  eminent 
men  abroad  and  at  home  that  I  have  met,  none  has  impressed  me  as 
possessing  such  breadth  and  depth  of  vision,  both  business  and  humani- 
tarian; none  has  manifested  such  intense  anxiety  to  use  his  money  and 
his  influence  for  the  permanent  benefit  of  mankind;  none  has  shown 
more  kindliness  and  humility  of  heart;  none  has  been  so  ready  to  put 


JOHN  D.  ROCKEFELLER  309 

a  charitable  interpretation  upon  the  acts  and  motives  of  others;  none 
has  been  more  free  from  everything  savouring  of  arrogance  or  domina- 
tion; none  has  exhibited  more  unfaiHng  readiness  to  do  kindly  little 
deeds  and  to  say  cheering  little  words  to  the  lowliest  and  to  children. 

"The  days  are  not  half  long  enough  to  do  all  that  I  find  happiness 
in  doing,"  Mr.  Rockefeller  remarked  to  me  on  the  eve  of  his  seventy- 
eighth  birthday.  "I  can  find  happiness  and  contentment  wherever 
I  go,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  extreme  gratification  to  me  that  my  son  has 
become  so  genuinely  interested  in  the  things  we  have  been  trying  to 
do  through  the  Medical  Institute,  the  Foundation,  and  other  agencies 
to  which  some  of  the  noblest  men  in  the  country  are  devoting  their 
best  effort,  many  of  them  busy  business  men  who  are  directing  this 
work  without  thought  of  reward." 


JULIUS  ROSENWALD 

THE  selling  of  a  few  watches  by  mail  by  a  hard-working  young 
station  agent  in  Minnesota  was  the  birth  of  the  greatest 
modern  mercantile  wonder  of  the  world.  Seventy  railroad 
cars  are  now  needed  daily  to  haul  away  the  merchandize  the  organiza- 
tion sells. 

Its  sales  for  1916  exceeded  $140,000,000,  or  almost  half-a-million 
dollars  every  business  day,  all  at  retail — one  pair  of  shoes,  one  suit  of 
clothes,  one  dress,  one  sewing  machine,  one  watch,  one  pound  of  tea, 
one  piano,  etc.  The  postman  brings  it  in  from  70,000  to  140,000 
orders  every  time  the  sun  rises. 

It  employs  directly,  at  headquarters  and  in  its  factories,  between 
30,000  and  40,000  people  and,  indirectly,  even  a  larger  number. 

A  half  interest  in  the  enterprise  was  bought  twenty-two  years 
ago  for  $70,000  and  although  not  another  dollar  of  capital  has  since 
been  invested  in  it  the  market  value  of  its  stock  now  is  upward  of 
$140,000,000  after  the  payment  in  dividends  of  many  millions  of 
dollars. 

Not  a  dollar's  worth  of  goods  is  sold  over  the  counter;  every  order, 
without  exception,  is  sent  by  mail  accompanied  by  check  or  post- 
office  order  in  payment. 

This  company's  publications  have  a  circulation  through  the  United 
States  far  transcending  those  sent  out  by  any  other  concern,  not  ex- 
cluding the  annual  sales  of  the  Bible  publishing  houses — the  1916 
figure  was  in  excess  of  40,000,000  copies. 

Speaking  of  the  Bible,  I  heard  a  story  in  Chicago  the  other  day  that 
the  teacher  of  a  Sunday-school  in  Minnesota  asked  her  class:  "Where 
did  we  get  the  Ten  Commandments.'*"  Whereupon  a  little  Swedish 
girl  answered  with  great  assurance: 

"From  Sears  and  Roebuck!" 

There!  That  lets  the  cat  out  of  the  bag.  This  modern  mercantile 
wonder  is  Sears,  Roebuck  and  Company,  of  Chicago. 

And  the  miracle-worker  behind  it  is  Julius  Rosenwald,  its  president. 

Mr.  Rosenwald  would  resent  being  called  a  miracle-worker.  He 
does  not  feel  that  he  has  done  anything  remarkable.  He  disclaims 
in  all  sincerity  any  great  share  of  credit  for  what  has  been  accom- 
plished. 

"What  one  man  can  do  to  execute  his  ideas,  or  the  ideas  of  others, 

310 


111,11  IS  ROSl'.NWAM) 


JULIUS  ROSEN WALD  311 

is  very  little,"  Mr.  Rosenwald  rebuked  me  when  I  suggested  that  he 
had  achieved  something  extraordinary.  "The  fellow  at  the  top  usually 
gets  too  much  credit;  often  he  gets  credit  for  ideas  that  come  from  the 
brains  of  his  fellow-workers.  What  could  any  one  man  do  if  there 
were  not  other  men  to  carry  out  his  and  their  own  ideas.?  It  is  the 
able,  willing  fellows  around  a  man  at  the  top  who  really  do  things. 
I  have  played  only  a  very  small  part  in  the  building  up  of  Sears, 
Roebuck  and  Company." 

A  friend  was  riding  home  with  Mr.  Rosenwald  one  day  as  the  more 
than  13,000  Chicago  employees  were  pouring  out  of  the  principal 
establishment. 

"How  does  it  feel,  Mr.  Rosenwald,  to  have  so  many  people  working 
for  you?"  the  friend  asked. 

"Why,  I  never  think  of  it  in  that  way,"  he  replied;  "I  always  think 
of  them  as  just  working  with  me." 

When  the  company  entered  into  its  present  palatial  buildings  sev- 
eral of  the  executives  felt  it  was  not  fitting  that  their  president  should 
have  no  rug  or  carpet  on  his  floor.  So  they  clubbed  together,  bought 
a  magnificent  Oriental  rug,  invaded  his  ofiice,  made  a  little  speech, 
and  presented  him  with  their  handsome  gift.  Greatly  confused, 
he  tried  to  thank  them  and  to  appear  pleased  at  their  thoughtful- 
ness. 

The  rug,  tightly  rolled,  stood  in  a  corner  week  after  week  and  then 
disappeared!  If  linoleum-covered  floors  were  good  enough  for  his 
co-workers,  they  were  good  enough  for  him! 

"The  finest  type  of  citizen  in  Chicago,"  is  how  one  of  the  most 
eminent  men  in  the  city  described  Mr.  Rosenwald  to  me. 

The  most  notable  thing  about  Julius  Rosenwald  is  not  any  super- 
human business  ability,  not  any  phenomenal  smartness  in  seeing  and 
seizing  mercantile  opportunities,  not  any  transcendent  qualities  as  a 
merchant.  The  greatest  thing  about  Julius  Rosenwald  is  not  his  busi- 
ness, but  himself^  not  what  he  has  but  what  he  is,  his  character,  his  per- 
sonality, his  sincerity,  his  honesty,  his  democracy,  his  thoughtfulness, 
his  charity  of  heart,  his  catholicity  of  sympathy,  his  consuming  desire 
to  help  the  less  fortunate  of  his  fellow-creatures,  be  they  black  or 
white,  Jews  or  Gentiles,  young  or  old. 

In  his  business,  Mr.  Rosenwald  takes  great  care  and  pride  in  advo- 
cating correct  merchandising  principles.  Every  illustration  and  every 
description  in  the  Sears-Roebuck  catalogue  is  compared  minutely  with 
the  actual  goods  by  experts  employed  for  that  special  purpose.  Ex- 
tensive and  expensive  laboratories  are  maintained  to  analyze  scien- 
tifically and  chemically  every  consignment  of  merchandise  received, 
and,  if  the  slightest  defect  in  materials  is  detected,  the  goods  are  im- 
mediately rejected  and  returned — a  rule  that  has  taught  manufac- 


312  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

turers  to  think  twice  before  trying  to  make  deliveries  unfit  to  pass 
the  severest  inspection.  Any  customer  not  satisfied  with  a  purchase 
can  return  the  goods,  and  have  his  money  refunded,  including  trans- 
portation charges  both  ways.  The  seller,  you  see,  must  therefore 
beware.     He,  not  the  buyer,  takes  the  risk. 

Every  conceivable  kind  of  merchandise  is  handled  by  Sears,  Roe- 
buck and  Company,  from  a  button  to  a  bungalow — yes,  bungalows  are 
sold  by  mail. 

How  has  it  been  done?  What  is  the  history  of  this  remarkable  in- 
stitution .'' 

Thirty-five  years  ago,  in  Minnesota,  R.  W.  Sears,  then  a  young 
station  agent,  conceived  the  idea  of  selling  watches  by  mail.  He  had 
acumen  enough  to  advertise  intelligently.  So  his  business  boomed. 
He  promised  himself  that  when  he  had  accumulated  ^100,000  he 
would  retire.  He  did.  But  six  months  of  idleness  cured  him;  the 
ideal  life,  he  discovered,  consisted  of  doing  things,  not  of  doing  noth- 
ing. He  had  agreed,  however,  not  to  connect  his  name  w^ith  any  mail- 
order business  for  three  years.  He  got  over  this  difficulty  by  entering 
into  an  agreement  w^ith  a  watchmaker  friend  named  Roebuck,  and 
the  name  A.  C.  Roebuck  &  Co.  was  given  the  new  venture.  At  the 
expiration  of  the  three  years  the  name  "Roebuck,"  having  been  ex- 
tensively advertised,  was  not  dropped,  a  change  being  made  to  Sears, 
Roebuck  and  Company,  although  Mr.  Roebuck  was  not  a  partner. 
Mr.  Sears  was  a  keen,  progressive  business  man,  and  in  time  moved 
to  Chicago,  where  he  added  various  new  lines,  including  clothing. 
All  sales  continued  to  be  made  by  mail,  however. 

Julius  Rosenwald,  then  in  the  clothing  business  in  Chicago,  sold 
Mr.  Sears  large  quantities  of  clothing.  The  mail-order  demand  for  it 
expanded  rapidly,  and  it  was  not  long  before  Sears,  Roebuck  and 
Company — then  consisting  of  Mr.  Sears — had  far  more  business  than 
the  capital  could  swing.  He  asked  Mr.  Rosenwald  to  become  finan- 
cially interested. 

Mr.  Rosenwald  had  learned  to  spot  opportunities  and  to  grasp  them. 
From  boyhood  up  he  had  displayed  unusual  initiative,  enterprise,  and 
industry.  Before  he  was  eleven  he  had  taken  little  excursions  on  the 
sea  of  business.  He  used  to  peddle  various  odds  and  ends  from  door 
to  door  in  his  native  town,  Springfield,  111.,  where  his  father  was  in 
the  clothing  business.  He  did  best  with  a  new  species  of  pictures, 
chromos,  which  then  sprang  into  popularity.  He  turned  his  hand, 
however,  to  other  things  to  earn  an  honest  dime.  For  example,  he 
used  to  pump  a  church  organ  for  a  woman  organist  who  wanted  to 
practise, 

"I  remember  as  if  it  were  yesterday,"  said  Mr.  Rosenwald  in  dis- 
cussing those  boyhood  days,  "how  I  made  $2.25  selling  a  pamphlet 


JULIUS  ROSENWALD  313 

programme  the  day  President  Lincoln's  monument  was  dedicated  in 
Springfield  by  President  Grant.  He  was  the  first  President  I  ever 
saw — and  the  first  man  wearing  kid  gloves." 

Julius  evidently  was  even  then  not  too  young  to  take  notice  of 
matters  pertaining  to  clothes.  His  first  real  employment  was  in  a 
fancy-goods  store  during  a  summer  vacation  when  he  was  fifteen. 

"What  did  you  do  with  your  money .f"'  I  queried. 

"I  saved  it,"  he  replied — hesitatingly,  I  noted. 

"And  then  what  did  you  do  with  it.''"  I  persisted. 

"I  took  it  all,  nearly  ^25,  and  bought  a  tea  set  for  my  mother's 
twentieth  anniversary  of  her  wedding." 

At  sixteen  he  left  school  and  went  to  New  York  to  enter  the  whole- 
sale clothing  house  of  Hammerslough  Brothers,  his  uncles.  He  lived 
economically,  and  by  the  time  he  was  twenty-one  he  had  saved 
enough  to  acquire,  with  a  little  financial  assistance  from  his  father,  a 
going  retail  clothing  store  on  Fourth  Avenue,  a  few  doors  from  Brokaw 
Brothers.  It  did  not  prove  a  gold  mine,  but  through  incessant  enegry 
it  was  made  to  pay  fairly  well. 

One  day  Mr.  Rosenwald  was  talking  with  one  of  the  owners  of  a 
business  which  made  a  specialty  of  summer  clothing  for  men.  "We 
have  at  least  sixty  telegrams  for  goods  and  we  cannot  begin  to  fill  the 
orders,"  remarked  this  manufacturer. 

*'This  statement  made  an  impression  upon  me,"  Mr.  Rosenwald 
relates.  "Here  was  a  man  getting  more  orders  than  he  could  supply. 
In  the  middle  of  the  night  I  woke  up  and  there  and  then  resolved  that 
that  was  a  business  worth  getting  into.  I  decided  to  sell  the  retail 
store  and  take  up  the  manufacture  of  summer  clothing." 

He  formed  a  partnership  with  Julius  E.  Weil,  also  from  Illinois,  and 
figured  out  that,  as  there  was  no  concern  in  Chicago  in  this  line  of 
business,  that  would  be  the  best  field.  Rosenwald  &  Weil,  manufac- 
turers and  wholesalers  of  summer  clothing,  had  to  overcome  the  usual 
obstacles  encountered  by  beginners,  but  in  a  year  or  tv/o  they  were 
doing  a  large  and  profitable  trade.  From  1885  to  1895  Mr.  Rosen- 
wald devoted  himself  exclusively  to  the  growing  activities  of  Rosen- 
wald &  Weil,  but  then  withdrew  and  branched  out  as  a  manufacturer 
of  regular  clothing  under  the  name  of  "Rosenwald  &  Company." 
By  this  time  Mr.  Sears  had  become  his  most  important  customer. 

In  1895  Mr.  Rosenwald  and  another  man  agreed  to  take  a  half 
interest  in  Sears,  Roebuck  and  Company  for  $70,000.  At  first  Mr. 
Rosenwald  did  not  become  an  active  partner  but  continued  to  look 
after  his  own  affairs.  The  new  capital  enabled  the  mail-order  enter- 
prise to  expand  to  about  $500,000  turnover  within  a  year.  Mr.  Sears 
could  not  possibly  look  after  everything,  so  in  1896  Mr.  Rosenwald 
took  up  duty  with  Sears,  Roebuck  and  Company  as  vice-president 


314  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

and  treasurer,  and  on  Mr.  Sears's  retirement  in  1908  he  became 
the  president.     Mr.  Sears  died  a  few  years  later. 

In  the  earHer  days  neither  Sears-Roebuck  nor  any  other  mail-order 
house  was  fastidious  about  the  wording  of  their  advertisements  or 
their  catalogues.  Illustrations  and  the  articles  illustrated  did  not 
always  jibe.  Merchandising  morals  all  over  the  country  were  then 
on  a  distinctly  lower  standard  than  they  are  now.  Mr.  Rosenwald 
addressed  himself  to  raising  standards.  And  his  code  of  ethics  began 
to  prove  profitable.  Honesty  abundantly  justified  itself  as  the  best 
policy. 

The  rejuvenated  Sears-Roebuck  introduced  other  improved 
methods  of  doing  business.  It  rapidly  extended  its  list  of  goods.  It 
began  to  open  factories  of  its  own — it  now  has  20,000  employees  in 
them.  It  engaged  the  best  buyers  and  gave  them  almost  limitless 
scope.  It  lengthened  its  mailing  list,  greatly  enlarged  its  annual 
catalogue,  and  introduced  special  and  other  seasonal  catalogues — 
and  all  the  time  kept  raising  and  raising  the  quality  of  the  merchandise 
sold.  Also,  it  inaugurated  the  revolutionary  policy  "money-back-if- 
not-satisfied."  This  courageous  step  sent  sales  up  with  a  bound — 
they  went  from  $11,000,000  in  1900  to  over  $50,000,000  in  1906, 
jumped  to  $100,000,000  in  1914  and  have  gained  about  40  per  cent, 
in  the  last  three  years. 

Who  would  have  thought,  for  example,  that  shoes  could  be  sold  by 
mail?  The  experiment  was  tried  not  very  long  ago  and  sales  quickly 
reached  over  $1,000,000  a  month — far  ahead  of  the  sales  of  any  retail 
store  in  the  world.  Most  of  these  shoes  are  made  in  the  company's 
own  factories. 

You  will  recall  how  Sears-Roebuck  took  hold  of  the  Encyclopaedia 
Britannica  and  instituted  a  selling  campaign  on  a  scale  the  book 
world  had  never  before  known.  This  one  item  added  over  $5,000,000 
to  the  1916  turnover.  This  was  less  the  idea  of  Mr.  Rosenwald, 
I  should  add,  than  of  Albert  H.  Loeb,  vice-president,  another  man 
of  extraordinary  ability. 

The  labour-saving  devices,  the  system,  the  mechanism  throughout 
Sears-Roebuck's  eclipse  anything  I  have  ever  seen,  even  those  of 
up-to-date  automobile  plants. 

Unlike  some  short-sighted  presidents,  Mr.  Rosenwald  has  never 
sought  to  arrogate  all  power  to  himself.  Department  heads  in  Sears- 
Roebuck  are  given  an  amount  of  leeway  unknown  in  most  enterprises. 
They  are  encouraged  to  think  up  new  ideas  and  are  given  a  free  hand 
to  try  them  out. 

"We  give  opportunity  to  others  to  do  things,"  said  Mr.  Rosenwald. 
"We  place  confidence  in  them,  give  them  plenty  of  rope  to  work  out 
their  own  ideas.     Even  if  they  do  make  mistakes  occasionally,  the 


JULIUS  ROSENWALD  315 

results  are  better  than  if  we  were  to  dominate  them  with  one  person's 
ideas  all  the  time." 

Mr.  Rosenwald  has  very  strict  ideas  about  the  deportment  of  em- 
ployees. He  takes  a  fatherly  interest  in  the  thousands  of  girls  in  the 
place  and  rigidly  enforces  a  cast-iron  rule  that  any  man,  no  matter  how 
important,  who  attempts  to  abuse  his  position,  dismisses  himself;  from 
this  rule  there  is  no  appeal.  Picnics  or  other  social  functions  which 
would  encourage  familiarity  between  men  and  women  workers  are 
forbidden,  although  no  concern  does  more  in  supplying  facilities  for 
wholesome  amusement  and  recreation  to  its  force.  Indeed,  the  first 
things  you  see  when  you  approach  the  Sears-Roebuck  property  are 
athletic  fields  for  baseball,  tennis  courts  galore,  recreation  grounds, 
and  beautiful  gardens  directly  in  front  of  the  works.  Elaborate 
facilities  are  provided  for  the  feeding  of  thousands  of  employees  at 
low  prices.  The  women  and  men  have  separate  tables,  but  in  the 
same  room. 

One  day  a  visitor  was  dining  with  Mr.  Rosenwald — the  Sears- 
Roebuck  lunches  are  good  enough  for  him — when  Mr.  Rosenwald 
noticed  a  man  and  a  girl  at  the  same  table.  The  president  immedi- 
ately investigated,  ^^'hen  he  found  that  they  were  father  and  daugh- 
ter, both  employees,  he  ordered  the  cafeteria  manager  to  set  apart  a 
special  table  so  that  in  such  cases  the  two  could  lunch  together  every 
day  without  infringing  the  rules. 

Several  thousands  of  the  employees  availed  themselves  of  the  op- 
portunity several  years  ago  to  buy  Sears-Roebuck  stock  "on  the 
ground  floor,"  and  its  market  value  has  more  than  quadrupled. 

Perhaps  the  crowning  achievement  of  Mr.  Rosenwald  in  connection 
with  his  co-workers  is  the  "Employees'  Savings  and  Profit  Sharing 
Fund."  Students  of  the  subject  have  pronounced  the  plan  the  best 
ever  conceived.  Briefly,  the  employees  who  join  agree  to  pay  5 
per  cent,  of  their  salaries  into  the  fund  and  thus  share  in  5  per  cent, 
of  the  Company's  net  earnings  every  year.  On  the  basis  of  normal 
profits,  the  Company's  contribution  would  be  two  dollars  for  every 
dollar  the  employees  paid  in.  A  worker  receiving  ^20  a  week,  paying 
$1  weekly  into  the  fund  would,  in  fifteen  years,  receive  for  the  $780 
paid  in  by  him,  $3,428.  In  thirty  years,  in  return  for  $1,560  paid  by 
him,  he  would  receive  $10,556!  The  conditions  covering  the  working 
of  the  fund  are  extremely  favourable  to  those  joining  it. 

In  addition,  all  employees  who  earn  under  $1,500  annually  receive 
an  "Anniversary  Check,"  which  amounts  to  5  per  cent,  of  their 
annual  salary  on  the  fifth  anniversary  of  their  entering  the  service, 
6  per  cent,  on  the  sixth,  and  so  on  up  to  10  per  cent,  on  the  tenth 
anniversary,  and  10  per  cent,  every  year  thereafter.  For  example,  a 
lo-year  employee  earning  $25  a  week  receives  annually  a  check  for 


31^  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

^130.  With  the  first  anniversary  check  goes  a  gold  badge,  another 
badge  is  given  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  another  for  fifteen  years,  and 
another  to  mark  twenty  years'  service.  These  badges  are  given  to  all 
regardless  of  salary  and  are  worn  by  the  officers  and  long-term  em- 
ployee with  as  much  pride  as  a  British  soldier  wears  a  Victoria  Cross. 

"The  besetting  sin  in  America  is  extravagance,"  Mr.  Rosenwald 
declared  in  explaining  the  introduction  of  profit  sharing.  "Our 
plan  will  bring  home  to  our  people  the  value  of  saving  part  of  their 
earnings.  It  will  encourage  them  and  assist  them  to  accumulate 
something,  and  will  have  a  beneficial  influence  on  their  characters  by 
stimulating  them  to  deprive  themselves,  if  neceassry,  of  some  things 
they  can  get  along  without.  If  they  want  to  withdraw  their  savings 
after  a  number  of  years,  they  can  do  so  without  waiting  until  they  are 
gray-haired.  After  five  years'  service  a  girl  who  leaves  to  be  married 
can  withdraw  her  savings  and  also  her  share  of  the  company's  contri- 
butions. Men  are  entitled  to  withdraw  their  share  of  profits  after 
ten  years'  service. 

"Don't  imagine,  however,  that  anything  we  do  for  our  people  in 
the  way  of  profit  sharing,  or  enabling  them  to  acquire  stock,  or  providing 
meals  at  low  rates,  medical  attention,  recreation  grounds,  vacations, 
and  so  forth,  is  done  from  philanthropic  motives — not  in  the  least. 
Whatever  we  do  for  our  employees  we  do  because  we  think  it  pays, 
because  it  is  good  business." 

That  sounds  businessy,  quite  cold-hearted,  doesn't  it.?  With  all  due 
respect  to  Mr.  Rosenwald,  I  don't  quite  believe  that  those  brave 
words  represent  the  real  truth  and  the  whole  truth.  I  suspect  these 
various  humane  activities  come  from  the  heart  rather  more  than  from 
the  counting  house.  In  other  words,  sentiment  has  something  to  do 
with  it. 

"The  happy  spirit  that  seems  to  pervade  the  place  is  part  of  the 
magnet  that  attracts  me  and  keeps  me  in  harness,"  Mr.  Rosenwald 
admitted. 

In  going  through  the  Sears-Roebuck  plant  I  was  struck  with  the 
manifest  cheerfulness  of  the  workers.  I  remarked  to  one  girl  who 
was  feeding  thousands  of  sheets  of  paper  into  a  printing  machine 
that  it  must  be  terrible  drudgery.  "No,"  she  replied  with  a  smile, 
"it  is  like  playing  at  work." 

"Don't  your  fingers  get  sore?"  I  asked. 

"No,  I  use  a  thimble,  you  see." 

Any  concern  that  can  instill  into  its  workers  such  an  intense 
spirit  of  loyalty  and  satisfaction  that  even  the  feeding  of  printing 
machines  week  after  week  and  month  after  month  is  regarded  as 
play  and  done  with  unqualified  contentment  has  solved  at  least  one 
phase  of  the  labour  problem. 


JULIUS  ROSENWALD  317 

Let  me  cite  one  more  instance  of  Mr.  Rosenwald's  attitude  toward 
those  for  whose  welfare  he  feels  in  some  degree  responsible.  When 
the  company  in  1906  moved  out  to  South  Chicago,  to  its  huge  offices 
and  warehouses  there,  Mr.  Rosenwald  was  anxious  that  the  place 
should  not  be  surrounded  with  saloons.  There  was  some  objection, 
on  the  ground  of  "paternalism,"  to  trying  to  regulate  the  habits  of 
free-born  citizens.  Mr.  Rosenwald,  however,  was  persistent  and 
finally  it  was  agreed  to  promulgate  a  rule  that  no  worker  would  be 
permitted  to  enter  a  saloon  within  eight  blocks  of  the  plant,  a  first 
infraction  to  be  met  with  a  warning  and  the  second  to  be  followed  by 
dismissal. 

One  saloon,  just  eight  blocks  from  the  plant,  tries  to  catch  workers 
both  going  and  coming,  for  it  has  one  sign  facing  the  works, 
"First  Chance,"  and  another  sign  facing  the  other  way,  "Last 
Chance." 

Mr.  Rosenwald  celebrated  his  fiftieth  birthday  on  August  12,  191 2, 
by  making  gifts  totalling  $700,000  to  various  worthy  organizations, 
including  $250,000  to  the  University  of  Chicago,  $250,000  for  a 
Jewish  Charity  building  on  the  west  side  of  Chicago,  $50,000  for  a 
social  workers'  country  club  near  Chicago,  and  $25,000  to  Tuskegee 
Institute  offshoots,  including  rural  schools  for  Negro  children.  At  the 
beginning  of  191 1  he  offered  to  contribute  $25,000  for  a  coloured 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  to  every  community  in  the  United  States  which 
within  five  years  would  raise  by  popular  subscription  an  additional 
sum  of  $75,000.     More  than  a  dozen  cities  qualified. 

What  was  described  by  the  newspapers  as  the  largest  gift  of  the 
kind  ever  made  was  announced  in  March,  1917,  by  the  American 
Jewish  Relief  Committee.  Mr.  Rosenwald  agreed  to  contribute 
$100,000  for  each  $1,000,000  raised  by  the  Committee  in  its  campaign 
to  collect  $10,000,000,  his  total  offer  thus  amounting  to  $1,000,000. 

Within  the  last  two  or  three  years  he  has  built  150  small  schools  in 
rural  communities,  principally  in  very  poor  districts  of  the  South. 
His  purse  knows  neither  colour  nor  creed.  The  late  Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington found  in  Mr.  Rosenwald,  a  trustee  of  Tuskegee  Institute,  one 
of  his  staunchest  supporters,  not  merely  financially  but  in  solving 
various  administrative  and  racial  problems. 

One  incident  told  me  in  Chicago  is  worth  narrating  as  illustrative 
of  Mr.  Rosenwald's  unostentatious  way  of  doing  things.  A  worthy 
head  of  a  large  Chicago  congregation  had  more  duties  than  he  could 
overtake.  A  new  automobile  w4th  chauffeur  drove  up  to  the  divine's 
door  one  morning  and  the  servant  was  told  to  inform  her  employer  that 
his  automobile  was  waiting  for  him.  He  told  the  servant  that  there 
was  some  mistake,  that  he  had  not  sent  for  any  car.  The  chauffeur 
insisted  there  was  no  mistake.     Investigation  brought  out  that  Mr. 


3i8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Rosenwald  had  bought  the  car  and  had  arranged  to  maintain  it  solely 
at  his  expense. 

Mr.  Rosenwald  is  president  of  the  Associated  Jewish  Charities  of 
Chicago,  an  active  worker  in  many  civic,  philanthropic,  and  educa- 
tional bodies,  president  of  the  Boardof  Trusteesof  the  Chicago  Bureau 
of  Public  Efficiency  and  prominent  in  the  Chicago  Peace  Society,  yet 
President  Wilson  selected  him  as  a  member  of  the  new  Council  of 
National  Defence,  and  he  at  once  began  spending  most  of  his  time  in 
Washington,  toiling  early  and  late  to  equip  America's  armed  forces 
to  take  the  field.  His  exhaustive  practical  knowledge  of  various 
branches  of  manufacture,  especially  clothing,  has  proved  of  inestim- 
able value  to  the  Government. 

Chicago  University  has  a  Julius  Rosenwald  Hall — but  not  with  the 
consent  of  Mr.  Rosenwald.  He  never  allows  his  name  to  be  attached 
to  any  building  or  institution  that  he  provides,  but  the  Chicago  Uni- 
versity authorities  took  advantage  of  his  absence  —  he  was  in  Palestine — 
to  name  the  hall  he  had  contributed  toward  "Julius  Rosenwald  Hall." 

The  name  of  Sears,  Roebuck  &  Company  should  really  be  Rosen- 
wald, Loeb  &  Co.     I  suggested  this  to  Mr.  Rosenwald. 

"No,  no,"  he  protested.  "I  want  no  monuments  either  outside  of  the 
cemetery  or  in  it.  Men  are  quickly  forgotten  when  they  die."  After 
a  pause,  "And  perhaps  it  is  best  so." 

A  beautiful  incident  occurred  while  I  was  in  Mr.  Rosenwald's  office. 
The  telephone  rang  and  his  face  immediately  broke  into  smiles. 
Turning  to  me  he  said  excitedly:  "That  was  my  mother.  She  is 
coming  to  see  me.  She  hasn't  been  here  in  four  years."  From  this 
on  he  kept  glancing  out  of  the  window,  and  the  moment  she  appeared 
he  rushed  to  meet  her.  After  that  he  ceased  to  act  as  president  of 
Sears,  Roebuck  and  Company.  He  became  just  "Julius"  and  all 
business,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  was  off. 

"Every  morning  in  his  life,"  one  of  his  associates  confided  to  me, 
"Mr.  Rosenwald  visits  his  mother  before  coming  to  work.  And 
when  he  returns  from  out-of-town  trips,  no  matter  how  we  may  be 
clamouring  for  him  at  the  office,  he  first  visits  his  mother,  who  is  in 
her  85th  year  and  active  in  mind  and  body.  Mr.  Rosenwald  once 
remarked  to  me:  *I  regard  as  a  fresh  gift  from  God  every  day  He 
spares  her  to  me.' " 

I  know  no  finer  type  of  American  citizen  than  Julius  Rosenwald. 


JOHN  D.  RYAN 


JOHN  D.  RYAN 

POLITICAL  corruption  was  rampant  in  the  state  when  he 
took  hold;  bitter  warfare  was  being  waged,  not  without  loss 
of  life,  between  the  two  dominating  mining  factions;  rivalries 
and  jealousies  were  rife;  individual  companies  and  labour  had  become 
lawless.  He  first  routed  the  political  antagonists,  then  bought  out 
the  entire  business  interests  of  the  opposition  and  next  harmonized  all 
the  internal  differences  and  jealousies  among  the  individual  concerns 
and  proceeded  to  build  up  what  is  now  not  merely  the  largest  copper 
mining  enterprise  in  the  world,  with  an  output  of  a  million  pounds  of 
copper  a  day,  but  he  developed  it  into  a  great,  integrated  industry 
comprising  very  important  railroad,  coal,  lumber,  and  mercantile 
properties,  as  well  as  a  producer  of  lead  and  zinc  on  a  scale  exceeded 
by  few  companies  in  the  world." 

The  man  whose  achievements  were  thus  summarized  is  John  D. 
Ryan,  president  of  the  Anaconda  Copper  Company  (which  supplies 
almostone-sixth  of  the  world's  total  production),  creator  and  upbuilder 
of  the  Montana  Power  Company  and  director  of  railroad,  industrial, 
and  financial  organizations,  including  the  great  American  Inter- 
national Corporation,  whose  directorate  reads  like  a  page  from  "Who's 
Who  in  Big  Business." 

*' After  that,"  went  on  the  business  man  here  quoted,  a  man  who 
was  on  the  ground  all  through  the  transformation  in  Montana,  "he 
threw  himself  into  creating  what  is  to-day  the  most  efficient  water- 
power  enterprise  in  America,  supplying  95  per  cent,  of  all  the  electrical 
power  used  in  Montana  and,  because  of  its  low  rates — the  lowest 
charged  anywhere — it  has  greatly  advanced  the  general  prosperity  of 
the  state. 

"And,  although  the  public  at  large  doesn't  realize  it,  he  has  done 
more  than  any  other  man  or  any  group  of  men  in  the  United  States 
to  bring  about  the  electrification  of  railroads,  for  it  was  the  extraor- 
dinary success  he  attained  in  the  complete  electrification  of  his  own 
company's  railroad  that  led  the  St.  Paul  to  undertake  its  wonderful 
project  of  operating  its  whole  Rocky  Mountain  division  by  electricity. 
This  is  perhaps  his  greatest  contribution  to  progress  and  civiliza- 
tion. 

"How  did  he  succeed  in  doing  all  this?  By  tact,  nerve,  and  judg- 
ment; by  the  sheer  force  of  his  personality;  by  his  ability  to  inspire 

319 


320  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

confidence  among  all  classes  and  factions,  including  labour;  through 
his  undeviating  fairness  to  everybody." 

Having  had  a  fairly  comprehensive  knowledge  of  his  record,  I 
asked  Mr.  Ryan  to  tell  me  something  for  the  inspiration  and  perhaps 
guidance  of  others  trying  to  win  their  way  toward  the  top. 

"No!"  replied  Mr.  Ryan,  holding  up  both  hands  in  protest.  "I 
have  not  done  anything  worth  talking  about  by  way  of  an  example 
to  the  youth  of  this  country.  You  cannot  write  any  picturesque 
story  about  me,  picturing  me  sweating  in  miner's  togs  at  the  bottom 
of  a  shaft,  for  I  never  did  a  day's  mining  in  my  life.  Nor  was  I  a 
prodigy  at  school.  Nor  have  I  worked  any  harder  than  lots  of  other 
men." 

"Then  do  you  want  me  to  assume  that  you  have  got  where  you  are 
because  of  influence " 

"Influence!"  broke  in  Mr.  Ryan.  "Influence  is  the  worst  handicap 
any  young  man  can  have.  It  tends  to  make  him  feel  he  need  not 
exert  himself  to  his  full  capacity  and  has  a  bad  eflfect  upon  him.  When 
other  workmen  learn  that  one  of  their  number  has  a  pull  with  some- 
body higher  up,  they  look  at  him  askance  and  the  effect  upon  these 
other  men  is  bad.  Then  the  foreman,  or  whoever  is  over  him,  will 
either  show  him  undue  favours  and  push  him  into  a  position  for 
which  he  is  not  fitted,  or,  if  the  boss  is  of  a  different  stamp,  he  will 
hesitate  to  promote  him  even  when  he  deserves  it  because  the  boss 
knows  the  others  will  think  it  is  a  case  of  favouritism.  The  effect, 
therefore,  is  bad  upon  the  whole  organization.  W^hen  any  young 
engineer  or  college  graduate  or  anybody  else  comes  to  me  asking  for  a 
letter  to  enable  him  to  get  a  job  at  our  works  I  say  to  him  just  what 
I  have  told  you." 

This  character  sketch  of  John  D.  Ryan  is  very  different  from  others 
that  have  been  printed  about  him.  There  is  a  reason.  Mr.  Ryan  has 
never  before  outlined  his  career  for  publication,  with  the  result  that 
romance  and  fiction  rather  than  fact  have  been  written  about  him. 
Usually  he  has  been  pictured  as  a  young  giant  who  began  work  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth  and  gained  mining-camp  fame  for  his  ability  to 
lick  any  cowboy  or  miner  in  the  West,  and,  because  of  his  prowess,  was 
selected  by  New  York  capitalists  as  the  best  man  to  keep  order  around 
their  turbulent  mining  properties.  He  displayed  natural  aptitude, 
so  the  legend  runs,  and  was  soon  filling  the  post  of  mine  manager. 
When  the  politicians  became  unruly,  Ryan  so  tamed  them  that  by 
and  by  they  came  and  ate  out  of  his  hand  while,  incidentally,  he 
completely  routed  from  the  state  F.  A.  Heinze,  the  quondam  copper 
king  of  Montana.  As  a  reward,  the  young  Lochinvar  was  made 
head  of  all  the  so-called  Standard  Oil  mining  properties.  That  is  the 
picturesque  John  D.  Ryan  painted  by  imaginative  writers. 


JOHN  D.  RYAN  321 

It  seems  almost  a  pity  to  have  to  puncture  all  this  romance.  Not 
that  there  are  not  real  elements  of  romance  in  John  D.  Ryan's  career. 
Is  there  not  romance  in  the  fact  that  a  young  man  without  money, 
without  technical  education,  without  financial  training  and  with  only 
the  experiences  of  a  travelling  salesman,  by  dint  of  stick-to-itiveness 
and  well-directed  intelligence,  won  his  way  before  middle  life  to  part- 
ownership  of  a  string  of  banks,  earned  the  presidency  of  the  foremost 
copper  mining  company  in  the  world,  built  the  most  remarkable  elec- 
tric power  enterprise  in  the  land,  was  elected  to  the  directorates  of  a 
number  of  gigantic  financial,  railroad,  and  industrial  organizations,  and 
acquired  a  fortune  running  probably  into  eight  figures? 

A  record  of  this  kind  is  not  simply  a  freak  of  Fortune.  Results 
usually  have  causes. 

I  mentioned  to  him  how  he  had  been  depicted  as  a  veritable  man- 
eater,  a  Samson  who  had  only  to  lift  his  little  finger  to  cow  a  whole 
campful  of  unruly  miners,  the  very  personification  of  courage — Ryan 
is  a  splendid  example  of  manhood. 

"Rot!"  he  broke  in.  "I  never  had  any  rows  with  labour  while  I 
was  at  a  mine  and  I  never  licked  a  miner  or  anybody  else  in  my 
life." 

Mr.  Ryan  would  stand  for  none  of  the  heroic  qualities  the  magazine 
writers  had  invested  him  with.     Here  are  the  facts. 

John  D.  Ryan  came  of  mining  stock.  His  father  was  the  discoverer 
of  what  are  now  the  Copper  Range  Mines  of  the  Lake  Superior  dis- 
trict. Shortly  after  John  was  born,  at  Hancock,  Michigan,  on  Octo- 
ber 10,  1864,  the  family  moved  to  the  Calumet  &  Hecla  mine.  Min- 
ing, however,  had  no  particular  attraction  for  the  boy.  His  parents 
wanted  him  to  go  to  college  but  he  preferred  to  begin  work.  When 
seventeen  he  entered  one  of  a  number  of  general  merchandise  stores 
in  the  copper  district  of  Michigan  v.hich  were  owned  by  an  uncle. 
For  eight  years  the  future  copper  magnate  weighed  sugar,  measured 
calico,  and  wrapped  parcels  behind  the  counter,  working,  as  was 
then  the  custom,  a  full  round  of  the  clock  daily.  From  this  uncle, 
who  was  the  leading  merchant  in  that  part  of  the  country,  he  picked 
up  more  or  less  business  information  and  insight,  but  he  had  no  ambi- 
tion to  become  a  Marshall  Field. 

A  brother  and  a  sister  having  been  obliged,  because  of  ill  health, 
to  live  in  Denver,  young  Ryan,  at  twenty-five,  decided  to  try  his  luck 
in  that  city.  Fortune  did  not  immediately  smile  on  him.  Month 
after  month  he  looked  in  vain  for  a  congenial  job. 

"I  was  six  months  in  Denver  before  I  found  employment  to  suit 
me — and  I  wasn't  hard  to  suit  either,"  was  how  he  described  his  dis- 
couraging experience  at  this  stage  of  his  life.  Then  he  got  a  start 
as  a  drummer,  selling  lubricating  oil  on  the  road.     He  travelled  all 


322  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

over  the  Rocky  Mountain  section  from  Montana  to  Mexico,  knowing 
little  or  nothing  of  home  life  for  several  years. 

"Wasn't  that  a  trying,  cheerless  kind  of  existence?"  I  ventured  to 
ask. 

"Of  course,  it  wasn't  exactly  a  primrose  path  or  rose-bed  life,  but 
I  was  not  married  then  and  it  was  easier  for  me  than  it  would  have 
been  for  most  other  fellows,  because  my  father  was  well  known  among 
mining  people,  and,  as  miners  move  about  a  good  deal,  I  met  friends 
of  his  all  over  and  this  helped  me  in  my  business. 

"Among  the  good  friends  I  met  during  that  time  was  Marcus  Daly, 
who  was  then  building  up  the  Anaconda  organization.  I  sold  him 
oils  and  in  that  way  was  thrown  in  contact  with  him." 

Mr.  Ryan,  contrary  to  the  popular  impression,  never  did  a  day's 
work  for  Daly  in  his  life,  nor  did  he  work  for  Anaconda  during  Daly's 
lifetime.  Daly  did  offer  the  hustling  salesman  employment  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  but  the  offers  were  declined.  The  truth  is  that 
when  Ryan  was  thirty  he  was  not  making,  and  had  never  made,  more 
than  $ioo  to  $150  a  month. 

When  thirty-two  he  married  Miss  Nettie  Gardner  of  his  native 
town.  After  that  he  apparently  developed  bigger  ambitions,  for 
when  Marcus  Daly  died  the  oil  salesman  conceived  the  idea  of  obtain- 
ing an  interest  in  the  Daly  chain  of  banks.  He  used  his  own  savings 
and  borrowed  freely  from  friends  to  buy  out  various  minority  stock- 
holders in  the  banks.     This  gave  him  general  charge. 

Ryan's  removal  to  Montana  as  directing  head  of  the  powerful 
Daly  financial  institutions  brought  him  into  contact  with  all  classes 
of  the  community.  In  the  volcanic  atmosphere  then  prevailing  he 
must  have  handled  himself  better  than  he  will  admit,  for  within  three 
years  Henry  H.  Rogers,  one  of  John  D.  Rockefeller's  most  fearless 
partners,  asked  Ryan  to  take  charge  of  the  Amalgamated  Copper 
Company's  affairs  in  that  state. 

The  job  was  about  as  uninviting  as  any  in  the  United  States. 
Amalgamated  had  several  fierce  political  fights  on  its  hands;  it  was 
neck-deep  in  litigation  with  Fritz  Augustus  Heinze;  labour  conditions 
were  unsettled  and  warlike;  and  the  whole  state  was  in  a  ferment, 
everybody  being  lined  up  either  for  or  against  one  side  or  the  other, 
Amalgamated  or  Heinze. 

Curiously,  all  Ryan's  activities  in  the  oil  business  had  been  in 
opposition  to  the  Standard  Oil  people,  his  employment  having  been 
with  their  rivals. 

It  was  in  1904  that  Ryan  became  managing  director  of  the  Amal- 
gamated Copper  Company  with  entire  charge  of  all  its  subsidiaries. 
His  job  was  not  merely  to  manage  the  mines,  but  to  manage  men  as 
well.     When  the  first  election  came  after  Ryan  took  charge,  the 


JOHN  D.  RYAN  323 

Heinze  faction  was  so  soundly  beaten  that  Ryan  concluded  Heinze, 
although  no  mean  fighter,  must  realize  he  was  completely  licked  and 
would,  consequently,  be  in  a  mood  to  talk  over  terms  of  peace. 

So  Ryan  opened  negotiations  with  Heinze  to  buy  all  his  properties 
in  Montana.  Heinze  was  anxious  to  sell,  but  he  wanted  the  deal 
arranged  so  as  to  create  the  impression  that  he  was  merely  effecting 
a  compromise  and  not  selling  out.  Amalgamated  was  determined  to 
eliminate  Heinze  entirely  from  the  situation  and  would  entertain  no 
negotiations  which  would  leave  him  a  loophole  to  cause  any  further 
embarrassment  in  the  conduct  of  the  business.  This  Heinze-Amal- 
gamated  deal  forms  so  notable  a  chapter  in  America's  mining  and 
financial  annals  that  I  prevailed  upon  Mr.  Ryan  to  tell  exactly  what 
happened. 

"Because  of  Heinze's  strong  objection  to  have  it  appear  that  he 
had  been  bought  out,  and  because  of  his  insistence  that  the  deal  be 
represented  as  a  merger,  it  was  very  hard  to  carry  on  negotiations 
that  would  remove  Heinze  root  and  branch,"  said  Mr.  Ryan.  "The 
situation  was  relieved  at  times  by  a  spice  of  humour.  Heinze  was 
mortally  afraid  that  the  miners  in  Butte  would  learn  that  he  was  pre- 
paring to  sell  out,  as  he  was  loudly  promising  to  fight  their  battles  for 
them  if  they  would  stand  by  him.  He  would  never  meet  me  except 
in  the  most  out-of-the-way  places.  We  never  entered  a  building  by 
the  same  door.  He  never  came  to  my  office  and  I  never  went  to  his. 
Instead,  we  would  meet  in  the  offices  of  one  of  our  lawyers  or  in  the 
rooms  of  friends.  One  of  our  most  important  sessions  was  held  in 
Providence,  R.  I.,  because  he  was  then  staying  at  Newport  and  I  was 
in  New  York  and  he  did  not  want  to  run  the  risk  of  our  being  seen 
together  at  either  place, 

"From  the  very  opening  of  negotiations  Heinze  and  I  were  friendly 
and,  though  many  times  we  came  very  near  breaking  off,  we  continued 
to  treat  with  each  other  in  good  faith.  He  never  once  broke  his  word 
to  me. 

"After  six  months'  negotiating  we  finally  met  one  night,  talked 
price  from  nine  o'clock  to  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  reached  an 
agreement." 

Amalgamated  then  (1906)  bought  all  the  Heinze  mining  properties 
in  Butte  except  the  Lexington  Mines,  which,  being  covered  by  an 
outstanding  bond  issue,  could  not  be  delivered  by  Heinze.  The  de- 
parture of  Heinze  was  followed  by  the  subsidence  of  political  turmoil. 
This  enabled  Ryan  to  wash  his  hands  of  political  campaigning  and  to 
devote  his  attention  to  developing  the  Amalgamated's  increased 
properties. 

"How  did  labour  act?"  I  asked. 

"We  had  threats  of  labour  difficulties,  but  in  all  the  time  I  dealt 


324  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

with  labour  we  had  no  strikes  or  lockouts.  In  fact,  our  mines  never 
lost  a  day  from  labour  troubles.  We  paid  good  wages  and  we  got 
good  service.  Our  relations  with  labour  were  most  satisfactory.  In 
fact,  I  have  very  little  complaint  to  make  over  any  dealings  I  have 
ever  had  with  labour  during  all  my  connection  with  mining." 

Later  on  Montana  did  have  serious  labour  disturbances,  but  they 
arose  from  a  bitter  struggle  between  the  I.  W.  W.  and  the  Western 
Federation  of  Miners  for  control  of  the  Butte  Miners'  Union.  This 
clash  brought  grave  disorder,  during  which  the  Miners'  Union  Hall 
was  wrecked  by  dynamite  and  the  militia  had  to  be  called  out  to  en- 
force order.  The  mining  companies  were  not  involved,  the  row  being 
between  the  two  unions.  Amalgamated  solved  the  problem  by  refus- 
ing to  recognize  either  faction  and  declaring  an  open  shop,  for  the  first 
time  in  over  thirty-five  years. 

Mr.  Ryan's  effective  work  was  rewarded  by  his  selection  as  presi- 
dent of  Anaconda. 

John  D.  Ryan  was  one  of  the  few  business  men  in  America  who  did 
not  even  know  in  1907  that  there  was  a  panic.  He  was  stricken  with 
typhoid  fever  in  August  of  that  year,  was  so  ill  for  months  that  he 
learned  nothing  of  what  was  going  on,  and  did  not  return  to  duty 
until  March  of  the  following  year.  About  the  time  this  Amalgamated 
giant  recovered  a  still  more  powerful  Amalgamated  giant,  H.  H.  Rog- 
ers, began  to  lose  his  health.  By  then  Rogers  had  set  such  an  ap- 
praisement upon  his  western  "find"  that  he  induced  Mr.  Ryan  to 
come  to  New  York  to  aid  him  in  looking  after  this  important  branch 
of  the  Rogers  activities.  When  Rogers  died  in  the  following  year 
Ryan  succeeded  him  as  president  of  Amalgamated. 

One  of  Ryan's  fortes  is  bringing  scattered  properties  together  under 
one  efficient  management,  with  capital  enough  to  develop  and  expand 
them.  He  has  a  faculty  for  handling  big  things.  It  is  both  easier 
and  more  economical  to  handle  one  integrated,  strong  organization 
than  to  keep  tabs  on  half  a  dozen  or  more  smaller  and  weaker  ones. 
Mr.  Ryan  believes  that,  industrially,  in  union  there  is  strength. 

In  Montana  there  was  very  special  reason  for  merging  numbers 
of  important  properties  into  one  large  concern,  for  there  had  been 
interminable  disputes  over  encroachments  by  one  company  upon 
the  underground  ores  of  another  as  the  mining  lands  were  patchworks 
of  claims  held  by  diflPerent  companies.  While  Anaconda  had  a  large 
interest  in  several  other  properties,  the  stockholders  were  not  the 
same  in  each  case,  so  that  it  was  impossible  to  run  things  without 
friction.  At  one  time  there  were  before  the  courts  disputes  involving 
almost  ^200,000,000. 

Ryan's  fairness,  ability,  and  personality  had  impressed  themselves 
upon  the  whole  community  by  this  time,  and  when  he  set  about 


JOHN  D.  RYAN  325 

evolving  order  out  of  all  this  muddle  he  was  able  to  bring  the  various 
companies  under  the  full  ownership  of  Anaconda,  a  feat  that  called 
for  the  exercise  of  the  most  delicate  diplomacy.  After  he  had  elimi- 
nated Heinze,  Ryan  had  rigidly  refrained  from  seeking  revenge  upon 
any  former  antagonists,  and  his  magnanimous  course  at  that  time  had 
won  him  the  respect  and  the  confidence  of  all  factions.  Had  he 
proved  vindictive  or  narrow  on  that  occasion  he  probably  never  would 
have  been  able  to  bring  the  various  companies  together. 

In  1910  all  the  holdings  of  Amalgamated  and  all  properties  of  sub- 
sidiaries were  merged  into  the  Anaconda,  and  by  1914  it  was  feasible 
to  dissolve  the  Amalgamated  Copper  Company. 

To-day  Anaconda,  in  addition  to  producing  15  per  cent,  of  the 
world's  total  output,  is  the  largest  producer  of  silver  in  the  world, 
and  its  output  of  high-grade  zinc  exceeds  that  of  any  other  mine  in 
the  world.  Its  metallurgical  processes  are  admittedly  the  most 
advanced  known,  and  to  them  is  due  in  large  measure  the  phenomenal 
increase  in  the  company's  profits  during  recent  years.  Anaconda, 
furthermore,  has  made  large  investments  in  other  mining  enterprises 
and  is  now  heavily  interested  in  properties  in  various  parts  of  the 
United  States  as  well  as  in  South  America,  notably  Chile.  It  is 
also,  through  subsidiaries,  a  great  industrial  and  mercantile  enter- 
prise. 

During  one  of  his  shopping  expeditions  through  the  Southwest 
Mr.  Ryan,  in  191 2,  was  so  struck  with  the  Inspiration  Copper  Mine, 
then  only  a  fledgling,  that  he  invested  extensively  in  it;  already  it  is 
the  third  largest  producer  of  copper  in  the  w^orld,  and  an  idea  of  how 
good  a  bargain  Ryan  made  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  in 
the  first  twelve  months  its  profits  were  almost  double  the  total  cost 
of  the  property  and  its  complete  equipment. 

What  is  here  recorded  by  no  means  adequately  indicates  Mr. 
Ryan's  responsibilities  or  ramifications,  since  he  is  a  power  in 
several  other  important  metal  companies. 

If  the  man  who  makes  two  blades  of  grass  grow  where  only  one 
grew  before  is  a  public  benefactor,  surely  a  man  who  contributes  in  a 
large  way  to  the  general  progress  of  the  development  of  a  state's  re- 
sources is  no  less  entitled  to  public  recognition  even  though  in  both 
instances  the  primary  motive  has  been  profit  rather  than  philan- 
thropy or  public-spiritedness.  Although  Mr.  Ryan's  home  is  now  in 
New  York  and  he  is  condemned  to  live  in  that  city  most  of  the  year, 
his  heart  is  still  in  Montana.  He  has  derived,  perhaps,  most  satis- 
faction from  his  work  in  bringing  into  being  the  Montana  Power 
Company  and,  in  the  space  of  six  years,  developing  it  into  so  eflScient 
and  so  huge  a  concern  that  it  can  supply  power  to  industries  and  rail- 
roads and  general  business  in  Montana  at  rates  which  give  these  in- 


326  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

terests  an  advantage  over  enterprises  located  in  any  other  state  in 
the  Union. 

The  world  has  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  electrification  of  440 
miles  of  the  St.  Paul  Railroad  over  the  Rockies,  but  only  railroad  and 
electrical  men  know  the  genesis  of  this  wonderful  feat. 

John  D.  Ryan  was  its  ancestor. 

When  he  had  his  Montana  Power  Company  in  working  order  he 
decided  to  electrify  the  Butte,  Anaconda  and  Pacific  Railroad,  be- 
tween the  mines  in  Butte  and  the  smelters  in  Anaconda.  Although 
there  is  only  about  icxd  miles  of  track  all  told,  this  road  handles  a 
tremendous  tonnage.  As  it  was  a  system  complete  in  itself,  it  lent 
itself  ideally  for  experimental  purposes.  When  the  task  of  electrifying 
the  road  was  completed,  the  experiment  proved  an  unqualified  suc- 
cess. Cost  was  cut  to  a  minimum,  efficiency  reached  a  maximum. 
Railroad  men  and  electrical  engineers  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
came  and  studied  the  results.  The  St.  Paul  Railroad  was  peculiarly 
interested  because  of  its  almost  insurmountable  problems  in  hauling 
freight  up  the  slopes  of  the  Rockies.  It  has  solved  its  prob- 
lems now  by  having  Ryan's  company  supply  it  with  electric  cur- 
rent. 

Montana  Power  now  provides  current  for  the  operation  of  no 
less  than  550  miles  of  railroad.  Moreover,  practically  all  the  mines 
of  Montana  get  their  power  from  this  project.  It  also  lights  most  of 
the  state. 

Indeed,  it  has  functioned  so  much  better  than  any  similar  utility 
company  in  the  state  that  a  committee  of  Congress  two  years  ago 
haled  Mr.  Ryan  before  it  and  ordered  him  to  confess  whether  or  not 
the  Company  had  a  monopoly  of  the  power  business  throughout  the 
state. 

"Yes,"  Ryan  replied  to  the  astonishment  of  the  probers.  "It  does 
95  per  cent,  of  the  business  in  its  line  in  the  state.  It  has  a  monopoly, 
not  of  the  water-power  resources  of  the  state,  but  of  the  market,  and 
it  is  a  monopoly  because  the  service  it  gives  is  so  good  and  the  charges 
are  so  low  that  there  is  no  possibility  of  competition  from  any  other 
water-power  company  or  any  other  source." 

Before  they  were  through,  the  investigators  found  that,  under  the 
advantageous  terms  given  by  the  Ryan  enterprise,  the  consumption 
of  electric  energy  in  Montana  was  greater  per  capita  than  in  any 
other  state  or  in  any  other  country. 

"Hydro-electric  development,  the  electrification  of  railroads,  the 
discovery  of  improved  metallurgical  processes  of  one  kind  or  another, 
are  destined  to  make  infinitely  greater  progress  than  is  even  dreamed 
of  to-day,"  Mr.  Ryan  impressed  upon  me  enthusiastically,  for  this  is 
one  subject  on  which  he  is  not  averse  to  talking      In  his  imagination 


JOHN  D.  RYAN  <?27 

he  sees  mining,  industry,  transportation,  and  civilization  as  a  whole, 
not  so  very  many  years  hence,  on  a  plane  higher  than  matter-of-fact 
business  men  would  dare  to  predict. 

I  asked  one  of  the  originators  of  the  American  International  Cor- 
poration, which  is  extending  America's  Influence  and  achievements  in 
foreign  markets,  why  Mr.  Ryan  was  picked  as  one  of  the  directors. 
I  wanted  to  know  what  his  special  qualifications  were.  The  reply 
was:  "John  D.  Ryan  Is  one  of  the  most  level-headed  fellows  we  have. 
He  is,  of  course,  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  the  mining  Industry  and 
is  accustomed  to  handling  International  transactions;  but,  more  than 
that,  he  has  an  unusual  amount  of  business  sense.  He  Is  not  fossilized. 
He  Is  always  on  the  job,  thinking  up  new  things  and  then  going  ahead 
and  doing  them.  He  has  all  the  breezy  progressiveness  and  enthu- 
siasm of  the  typical  Westerner,  and  he  combines  with  this  the  financial 
and  business  experience  which  he  has  Imbibed  here  In  the  East." 

When  the  United  States  Government,  early  In  1917,  sought  to  buy 
many  millions  of  pounds  of  copper  for  military  purposes,  the  first 
man  approached,  the  Government  representative  later  recorded,  was 
John  D.  Ryan.  His  attitude  was  so  satisfactory  that  the  representa- 
tive had  to  see  but  one  other  man,  Daniel  Guggenheim,  before  receiv- 
ing assurance  that  the  War  Department  would  be  supplied  at  less 
than  half  the  price  then  current.  "Those  two  men  deserve  all  the 
credit,"  was  the  tribute  the  Government's  representative  paid  them. 

Not  a  bad  record  for  a  mining  camp  boy  who  was  only  an  oil  drum- 
mer on  the  road  at  thirty-five  and  is  not  yet  fifty-three? 


JACOB  H.  SCHIFF 

JACOB  H.  SCHIFF  has  peculiarities. 
He  has  never  had  a  private  secretary;  he  personally  attends 
to  every  letter  addressed  to  him,  often  giving  first  attention, 
not  to  business  communications,  but  to  charity  mail. 

He  has  never  subscribed  to  a  press-clipping  bureau  and  hardly  ever 
looks  at  articles  printed  about  himself  or  his  activities. 

*'I  would  like  you  to  let  me  have  a  look  at  data  about  yourself, 
including  the  best  sketches  that  have  been  written  about  your  career," 
I  said  to  Mr.  SchifF  when  I  found  he  had  been  named  as  one  of 
America's  "Fifty  Foremost." 

"I  have  not  kept  one  word  printed  about  myself  and  I  don't  think 
my  son  or  any  one  else  has,"  replied  Mr.  SchifF. 

I  expressed  regret  on  the  score  that  it  was  easier  to  make  bricks  if 
given  some  straw. 

"You  don't  need  any  data  or  any  interview  to  write  an  article 
about  me,"  Mr.  SchifF  commented.  "You  have  known  me  very  well 
for  many  years,  you  know  all  about  me.  And" — this  with  a  twinkle 
— "if  you  like,  I  promise  to  read  what  you  print." 

Mr.  SchifF's  claim  to  a  place  in  America's  Business  Hall  of  Fame 
rests  on  several  solid  foundations. 

For  over  thirty  years  he  has  been  head  of  one  of  the  two  most 
influential  private  international  banking  firms  in  the  Western  hemis- 
phere, and  in  this  position  has  powerfully  contributed  to  the  building 
up  of  America's  transportation  systems  which  have  done  so  much 
for  our  national  development  and  enrichment. 

His  house  has  raised  capital  for  scores  of  transportation  and  indus- 
trial enterprises,  and  it  is  a  Wall  Street  saying — one  of  Wall  Street's 
rather  few  true  ones — that  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Company  have  issued  more 
good  investments  and  fewer  bad  ones  than  any  other  banking  concern 
in  America. 

Mr.  SchifF's  achievements  as  a  financier,  however,  have  been  ex- 
celled by  his  record  as  a  philanthropist.  To  this  work  he  has  contrib- 
uted not  only  millions,  but  a  large  portion  of  his  life — his  mind,  his 
brain,  his  heart,  his  days,  and  probably  not  a  few  sleepless  nights. 

On  the  day  the  great  Northern  Pacific  panic  in  Wall  Street  reached 
its  height  the  partners  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.  frantically  tried  to  get 
into  touch  with  Mr.  SchifF.     He  had  not  come  down  to  his  office;  he 

328 


)ACX)H  11.  SCMIIFK 


JACOB  H.  SCHIFF  329 

was  not  at  his  home;  he  was  not  holding  a  conference  with  Harriman. 
Search  discovered  that  he  had  gone  to  attend  a  meeting  at  the  Monte- 
fiore  Home.  When  his  excited  partners  pounced  upon  him  remon- 
stratingly,  he  calmly  replied:  "I  thought  the  poor  people  up  there 
needed  me  more  than  you  people  down  here." 

His  fetich  is  not,  as  popularly  supposed,  Judaism,  but  citizenship. 
It  is  his  creed  that  a  man  must  first,  last,  and  always  be  a  good,  loyal 
citizen,  intensely  zealous  in  discharging  all  the  responsibilities  ot 
citizenship.  With  him  citizenship  ranks  above  sect.  He  holds  that 
unless  a  man  is  a  worthy  citizen  he  cannot  be  either  a  worthy  Jew  or  a 
worthy  Gentile.  Everything  is  secondary  to  citizenship.  All  his 
public  service,  all  his  givings  to  education,  his  continuous  donations 
to  charities,  his  endeavours  for  the  promotion  of  the  best  literature 
of  his  race — all  have  been  prompted  by  his  sense  of  what  citizenship 
demands. 

Another  characteristic  of  Mr.  Schiff  has  been  his  loyalty  to  his 
friends.  He  is  not  a  fair-weather  friend.  The  giants  of  transporta- 
tion, of  commerce,  of  finance,  of  railroading,  once  thrown  into  associa- 
tion with  him,  have  remained  staunch,  close,  confidential  friends  to 
the  end.  Mr.  SchiflF  was  the  earliest  financial  sponsor  of  Edward  H. 
Harriman;  James  J.  Hill  became  closer  and  closer  to  him  as  the  years 
rolled  on;  Alexander  J.  Cassatt,  the  creator  of  the  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road system  as  New  York  now  knows  it,  found  in  Mr.  SchifF  a  whole- 
hearted supporter;  Samuel  Rea,  Marvin  Hughitt,  Charles  W.  Eliot, 
and  James  Stillman  are  other  tested-and-tried  friends,  while  in  his 
later  years  J.  P.  Morgan,  although  a  rival  in  banking,  came  to  regard 
Mr.  SchiflF  as  a  financier  whose  tremendous  influence  could  be  relied 
upon  for  constructive  effort  whenever  financial  foundations  began  to 
be  shaken. 

He  attends  more  funerals  than  any  other  financier  in  America. 
Wherever  there  is  occasion  for  condolences,  Mr.  SchifF  is  among  the 
first  to  tender  them.  Also,  he  never  misses  opportunity  to  offer  con- 
gratulations on  joyous  occasions. 

Although  Jacob  Henry  SchifF  is  seventy  you  would  never  suspect 
it.  He  can  still  pedal  a  bicycle  fast  enough  to  get  him  into  trouble 
with  the  speed  laws.  As  a  walker,  Weston  would  not  find  him  disap- 
pointing. Mr.  SchifF  does  not  try  to  break  records  or  blood  vessels 
on  the  golf  links:  he  is  not  a  golfer.  He  attributes  his  sound,  supple 
physique  to  moderation,  to  plenty  of  fresh  air  and  daily  "legomo- 
tion." 

He  was  born  in  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  a  city  famous  as  the  cradle 
of  financiers.  His  parents,  who  were  neither  very  rich  nor  very  poor, 
were  not  in  the  banking  business;  but  another  branch  of  the  family 
was,  and  Jacob  Henry  was  early  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  finance. 


330  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

He  was  a  bit  restless,  however,  as  he  grew  toward  manhood,  and  when 
our  Civil  War  ended  he  decided  to  come  to  the  land  which  promised 
to  offer  limitless  possibilities.     He  was  eighteen  then. 

He  got  a  job  as  a  bank  clerk  but  had  sense  and  push  enough  not  to 
stick  long  at  that  cramped  calling.  He  soon  became  junior  partner 
of  the  brokerage  firm  of  Budge,  SchifF  &  Co.  He  worked  hard,  studied 
hard,  and  prospered.  Young  SchifF,  in  fact,  was  then  recognized  as 
one  of  the  coming  financiers  of  Wall  Street.  To  broaden  his  experi- 
ence, he  went  to  Europe  for  a  stay. 

On  returning,  he  joined  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.,  already  a  banking  house 
of  prominence.  Shortly  after  he  married  Therese  Loeb,  daughter  of 
Solomon  Loeb,  the  senior  partner  of  the  firm.  He  was  then  twenty- 
eight.  Ten  years  later  Mr.  Loeb  retired  and  his  son-in-law,  who  had 
developed  notably,  was  the  logical  successor.  For  over  thirty  years 
Mr.  SchifF  has  piloted  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.  through  fair  and  foul  finan- 
cial weather,  piloted  it  with  a  skill,  foresight,  and  honesty  that  have 
raised  it  to  the  very  foremost  rank  among  the  private  banking  houses, 
not  only  of  the  United  States,  but  of  the  world. 

When  Edward  Harriman,  the  Stock  Exchange  broker,  began  to 
dabble  in  railroad  properties,  he  had  neither  experience  nor  capital. 
But  he  had  almost  infallible  judgment,  the  vision  of  a  statesman, 
the  enthusiasm  of  an  artist,  and  the  determination  of  a  Spartan. 
Jacob  H.  SchifF  was  one  of  the  first  financiers  to  recognize  that  a  new 
railroad  Napoleon  was  entering  the  arena. 

Union  Pacific  in  those  days  was  a  battered,  bankrupt,  decrepit 
stretch  of  rust.  Few  capitalists  had  faith  in  its  possibilities.  But 
Mr.  SchifF's  confidence  in  the  future  of  the  United  States  was  as  strong 
then  as  it  is  to-day  and  he  took  up  the  reorganization  of  Union  Pacific. 
Harriman  came  knocking  at  the  door,  and,  discerning  in  him  a  genius, 
Mr.  SchifF  extended  to  him  the  prestige  and  resources  of  Kuhn,  Loeb 
&  Co.  Without  this  backing,  it  is  doubtful  if  Union  Pacific  or  the 
vast  territory  it  serves  would  have  enjoyed  such  remarkable  pros- 
perity. 

U.  P.  shares  were  then  selling  for  a  song.  Both  Harriman  and  his 
bankers  acquired  enormous  quantities,  and  within  ten  years  the  stock 
netted  a  fortune  for  all  its  large  holders.  Indeed,  it  subsequently 
paid  annually  a  dividend  equal  to  the  entire  original  cost. 

Southern  Pacific  and  other  railroads  were  corralled  later.  The 
Harriman-Kuhn-Loeb  combination  became  the  most  powerful,  the 
most  aggressive,  and  the  most  successful  that  America  had  ever  known. 
A  railroad  kingdom  was  being  created  without  a  parallel  in  the  history 
of  the  world. 

Harriman  made  more  than  $10,000,000  every  year  in  the  later  part 
of  his  life!    When  he  died,  in  1909,  he  left  upward  of  $70,000,000. 


JACOB  H.  SCHIFF  331 

Mr.  SchifF  is  estimated  by  fellow-bankers  to  be  worth  not  so  very 
much  less,  notwithstanding  his  princely  gifts  to  various  causes. 

Russia's  harsh  treatment  of  Jews  had  long  incurred  the  ire  of  Mr. 
SchifF,  so  when  war  broke  out  with  Japan  he  enthusiastically  under- 
took the  raising  of  loans  for  the  Czar's  enemy.  Mainly  through  his 
efforts  over  $2Cxd,ooo,ooo  of  Japanese  bonds  were  sold  here. 

As  bankers  for  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  !K.,  L.  &  Co.  have 
floated  as  much  as  $100,000,000  at  one  time.  It  was  this  firm  that 
found  the  money  necessary  to  enable  the  Pennsylvania  to  tunnel  its 
way  into  New  York  and  to  raise  that  modern  world's  wonder,  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  station.  Mr.  SchifF  had  great  admiration  for 
Mr.  Cassatt,  the  bold  dreamer  who  turned  his  dreams  into  stone  and 
steel  and  structures.  Incidentally,  during  all  the  years  of  association 
between  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  and  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.  never  once 
has  there  been  even  a  suggestion  of  improper  profits,  disastrous  finan- 
cial advice,  or  questionable  manipulation  of  securities. 

It  was  Mr.  SchifF's  firm  that  placed  $50,000,000  of  Pennsylvania 
bonds  in  France  and  had  them  listed  on  the  Paris  Bourse,  a  step  beset 
with  inordinate  difficulties  but  one  which  had  mutually  satisfactory 
results.  After  the  war  broke  out  an  ofFer  was  made  to  repurchase 
these  bonds  and  a  majority  of  them  came  back. 

Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.  have  done  heavyweight  financing,  also,  for  such 
railroads  as  Baltimore  &  Ohio,  Chicago  &  North  Western,  Delaware 
&  Hudson,  Illinois  Central,  Union  Pacific,  Southern  Pacific,  etc. 

Mr.  SchifF  has  been  fortunate  in  having  brainy  partners,  namely, 
Otto  H.  Kahn,  Paul  M.  Warburg  (brother-in-law),  now  of  the  Federal 
Reserve  Board,  Felix  M.  Warburg  (son-in-law),  Jerome  J.  Hanauer, 
and  Mortimer  L.  SchifF,  who  is  one  instance  of  an  able  son  following  an 
able  father. 

I  have  already  touched  upon  Mr.  SchifFs  philanthropies.  The 
public  may  be  interested  to  knowthat,  while  Mr.  SchifFhas  given  away 
millions,  he  frowns  upon  wasting  one  penny.  One  of  his  idiosyncrasies 
is  his  habit,  when  he  opens  his  mail,  of  carefully  preserving  all  unused 
pages  of  letters  as  a  substitute  for  pads.  Doubtless,  most  young 
readers  will  smile  at  this  little  foible,  but  does  it  not  point  a  moral  in 
these  extravagant  days?  If  such  economy  is  not  despised  by  a  multi- 
millionaire, can  those  less  well-ofF  afFord  to  scofF  at  it.^  It  may  be 
that  Mr.  SchifF's  carefulness  in  saving  pennies  has  had  something  to 
do  with  his  ability  to  save  millions. 

Mr.  SchifF  was  the  first  treasurer  of  Barnard  College.  He  founded 
the  Semitic  Museum  at  Harvard  and  the  Jewish  Theological  Seminary 
in  New  York.  He  is  vice-president  of  the  Baron  de  Hirsch  fund  and 
a  trustee  of  the  American  Jewish  Committee.  He  is  president  of  the 
Montefiore  Home  for  Chronic  Invalids. 


332  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

His  sense  of  civic  responsibility  influenced  him  to  become  a  forceful 
member  of  the  Second  Committee  of  Seventy,  the  Committee  of 
Fifteen,  and  the  Committee  of  Nine.  In  later  years  he  has  been  chosen 
frequently  by  Mayors  of  New  York  as  a  member  of  special  mayoral 
committees.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education  under 
Mayor  Strong.  In  the  work  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  he  has 
taken  an  active  part,  as  vice-president  and  on  committees,  for  a  genera- 
tion. The  establishment  of  a  College  of  Commerce  has  been  a  project 
very  near  his  heart;  if  others  had  come  forward  with  ofl?"ers  of  contri- 
butions as  he  did,  New  York  would  have  had  such  an  institution  years 
ago. 

Colleges,  hospitals,  libraries,  charitable  organizations,  the  Red  Cross, 
and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  have  all  benefited  from  Mr.  SchifFs 
widely  bestowed  gifts.  He  does  not  make  a  "splash"  with  his  do- 
nations; his  contributions  are  very  largely  to  meet  current  expenses 
and  in  many  cases  are  made  regularly  every  year.  To  commemorate 
the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  arrival  in  America  he  presented  a 
$500,000  building  to  Barnard  in  preference  to  doing  anything  for  one 
sect. 

And  now  comes  a  tragic  part  of  the  chronicle. 

Mr.  SchifF  does  not  believe  that  the  Jews  in  America  should  seek 
to  hold  themselves  apart.  He  condemns  everything  tending  to  foster 
racial  separateness.  He  urges  that  every  Jew  must  be  an  American 
citizen  first,  a  Jew  second. 

In  an  impassioned  speech  in  1916,  replying  to  criticisms  by  his 
own  people,  he  declared  with  feeling:  "We  hold  our  Jewry,  our  flag, 
as  high  as  our  fathers  did,  but  we  recognize  that  we  are  Americans, 
and  we  want  our  children  to  be  Americans.  We  want  our  children 
to  love  our  religion.  We  want  them  to  be  able  to  read  in  the  original 
language  our  laws  and  our  codes,  but  we  also  want  them  to  think  in 
English,  to  read  in  English,  to  adopt  American  ways." 

So  hurt  was  Mr.  Schiff^by  the  ingratitude  manifested  by  some  of  his 
co-religionists  that  he  felt  constrained  to  announce  that  henceforth 
he  would  "have  no  part  in  Zionism,  nationalism,  the  congress  move- 
ment and  Jewish  politics  in  whatever  form  they  may  come  up." 

How  deep  the  stabs  have  entered  Jacob  SchifF's  heart  cannot  be 
fathomed  by  those  who  do  not  know  the  man.  To  find  himself  the 
object  of  ingratitude,  criticism,  and  condemnation  by  some  of  the  very 
people  from  whom  he  had  reason  to  receive  gratitude  has  wounded 
Mr.  SchifF  grievously. 

His  experience  is  reminiscent  of  what  the  late  J.  P.  Morgan  under- 
went when  he  was  indicted  for  conspiracy  in  the  Grand  Trunk-New 
Haven  Railroad  case.  Mr.  Morgan,  then,  like  Mr.  SchifF,  almost 
seventy,  was  heartbroken,  inconsolable.     He  could  not  leave  his  bed. 


JACOB  H.  SCHIFF  333 

He  wept,  and  from  an  aching  heart  wailed:  "To  think  that  after  all 
these  years  I  have  been  branded  by  my  own  Government  a  criminal, 
fit  only  to  be  thrown  into  jail!"  Had  not  Charles  S.  Mellen  come 
forward  and  shouldered  the  whole  responsibility,  it  is  doubtful  if  the 
aged  financier  would  have  recovered. 

One  accusation  brought  against  Mr.  Schiff  has  been  that  he  was 
"dictatingtothejewsof  New  York  what  they  ought  to  do,"  Whether 
Mr.  SchifF,  with  his  peculiar — and,  to  my  mind,  not  wholly  wise — 
attitude  toward  the  press  and  the  public  thought  it  necessary,  when 
doing  the  right  thing,  to  be  punctilious  to  do  it  the  right  way;  whether 
it  ever  occurred  to  him  that  his  enormous  power  made  him  vul- 
nerable to  charges  of  autocracy,  I  cannot  say.  Perhaps  the  possi- 
bility of  being  misunderstood  never  entered  his  head. 

I  do  know  that  he  is  among  the  best  friends  the  Jews  of  America 
have  ever  had;  that  for  years  he  has  spent  as  much  time  in  their 
behalf  as  in  attending  to  his  banking  business;  that  the  most  eminent 
Jews  of  Europe  regard  Jacob  H.  Schiff  as  one  of  the  foremost  leaders 
of  their  race  in  the  whole  world,  as  something  of  a  modern  Moses; 
that  the  educational,  the  charitable,  and  the  social  facilities  for  Ameri- 
can Jews  would  not  have  reached  their  present  state  but  for  the 
thought,  toil,  exhortation,  and  benefactions  of  Mr.  Schiff;  that  he 
has,  without  blowing  of  trumpets,  helped  many  a  poor  Jew  and 
Gentile,  black  as  well  as  white,  out  of  his  own  purse,  and  that  he  is 
held  in  affectionate  regard  by  a  large  part  of  the  masses  familiar  with 
his  charitable  works. 

I  do  know,  in  short,  that  Jacob  Schiff  Is  a  man  whom  any  race  might 
well  be  proud  to  call  its  own. 

In  presenting  him  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Commercial  Science 
at  the  New  York  University  in  June,  1916,  Vice-Chancellor  Stevenson 
thus  summed  up  Mr.  Schiff's  services: 

"Jacob  Henry  Schiff,  in  this  land  of  your  adoption  you  have  won  a 
place  of  acknowledged  leadership  in  financial  and  commercial  pur- 
suits. For  enterprise  and  breadth  of  vision,  for  probity  and  worth, 
for  the  patronage  of  learning,  for  fidelity  to  the  best  traditions  of 
your  race,  and  for  altruistic  service  that  transcends  the  boundaries  of 
race  and  religion.  New  York  University  bestows  upon  you  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Commercial  Science  and  directs  that  your  name  be  added 
to  the  roll  of  her  alumni." 

Elaborate  preparations  were  made  by  Jewish,  civic,  commercial, 
and  other  bodies  to  do  honour  to  Mr.  Schiff  on  his  seventieth  birthday, 
January  10,  191 7.  But  it  was  characteristic  of  him  that  he  refused 
to  be  feted  in  any  way.  To  avoid  any  fuss  being  made  over  him, 
Mr.  Schiff  quietly  left  the  city  on  the  eve  of  the  anniversary  day! 

I  happened  to  call  upon  him  at  his  office  just  as  he  was  preparing 


334  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

to  slip  away.  Naturally  I  asked  why  he  would  not  let  fellow-citizens 
join  in  paying  him  the  tributes  they  desired.  Mr.  SchifF's  reply 
reveals  his  personality: 

"There  are  any  number  of  people  who  would  like  to  do  just  as 
much  as  I  have  ever  done,  but  who  have  not  had  it  within  their  power. 
Because  God  has  blessed  me  with  the  means  to  do  something  for 
others,  that  is  no  reason  why  I  should  set  myself  up  to  be  praised 
or  feted  for  doing  it." 

On  the  day  Mr.  SchifF  reached  seventy,  checks  from  him  reached  an 
undisclosed  number  of  worthy  organizations.  How  much  he  thus 
distributed  he  would  not  state,  but  announcement  after  announce- 
ment came  from  recipients  until  a  total  of  $500,000  was  revealed, 
including  four  gifts  of  $100,000  each. 

Men  in  all  walks  of  life  sent  Mr.  SchifF  birthday  congratulations 
and  paid  tribute  to  his  worth  as  a  citizen,  as  a  valuable  force,  to  quote 
Mayor  Mitchel's  words,  "in  the  forefront  of  those  public  movements 
in  the  city  during  the  last  twenty-five  years  out  of  which  has  evolved 
its  civic  progress."  Almost  an  entire  issue  of  the  American  Hebrew 
was  devoted  to  the  publication  of  appreciations  of  Mr.  SchifF  by 
noted  Jews  and  others  both  in  Europe  and  here.  Israel  Zangwill 
expressed  the  general  sentiment  felicitously  in  these  words;  "Con- 
gratulations on  such  a  birthday  fall  rather  to  the  world  which  has 
still  the  privilege  of  Mr.  SchifFs  presence  than  to  the  man  him- 
self." Secretary  of  the  Treasury  McAdoo  described  Mr.  SchifF  as 
"a  rare  combination  of  the  financier  and  the  altruist,"  "at  once  a 
philosopher  and  a  philanthropist,"  "a  progressive  and  a  patriot,  who 
never  hesitates  to  put  country  above  party  and  who  never  fails  to 
enlist  in  a  worthy  cause."  Another  well  said  that  to  make  a  just 
estimate  of  Mr.  SchifF  as  a  philanthropist  would  mean  to  write  the 
history  of  Jewish  philanthropy  for  the  last  forty  years. 

Grievously  as  the  European  war  has  weighed  upon  Mr.  SchifF,  it 
has  -brought  one  compensating  event  of  immeasurable  moment. 
"The  Russian  revolution  is  possibly  the  most  important  event  in 
Jewish  history  since  the  race  was  brought  out  of  slavery,"  declared 
Mr.  SchifF.  It  has  caused  him  to  revise  some  of  his  views  concerning 
the  future  of  the  Jewish  people. 

"It  has  come  to  me,"  Mr.  SchifF  told  an  audience  just  after  the 
revolution,  "while  thinking  over  events  of  recent  weeks — and  the 
statement  may  surprise  many — that  the  Jewish  people  should  at  last 
have  a  home  land  of  their  own."^ 

"I  do  not  mean  by  that  that  there  should  be  a  Jewish  nation.  I 
am  not  a  believer  in  a  Jewish  nation  built  on  all  kinds  of  isms,  with 
egoism  as  the  first,  and  agnosticism  and  atheism  among  the  others. 
But  I  am  a  believer  in  the  Jewish  people  and  in  the  mission  of  the 


JACOB  H.  SCHIFF  335 

I 
Jew,  and  I  believe  that  somewhere  there  should  be  a  great  reservoir 
of  Jewish  learning  in  which  Jewish  culture  might  be  furthered  and 
developed,  unhampered  by  the  materialism  of  the  world,  and  might 
spread  its  beautiful  ideals  over  the  world. 

"And  naturally  that  land  would  be  Palestine.  If  that  ever  de- 
velops— and  the  present  war  may  bring  the  development  of  this  ideal 
nearer — it  will  not  be  accomplished  in  a  day  or  a  year,  and  in  the 
meantime  it  is  our  duty  to  keep  the  flame  of  Judaism  burning 
brightly." 

When  the  American  Jewish  Relief  Committee  launched  its  cam- 
paign to  raise  $10,000,000  for  Jewish  victims  of  the  war,  Mr.  SchifF 
invited  to  dinner  several  hundred  of  the  most  prominent  members  of 
the  race,  made  a  stirring  appeal,  announced  a  personal  contribution 
of  $100,000  and  so  aroused  the  gathering  that  over  $2,500,000  was 
pledged  on  the  spot.  Mr.  Schiff's  donation,  he  specified,  would  be 
used  in  establishing  a  hospital  unit  in  Russia  "in  recognition  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  Jew,  won  through  the  revolution." 

In  presenting  a  loving  cup  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  SchifF  at  Newport,  R. 
I.,  in  the  summer  of  1917,  the  spokesman  said: 

"Many  times  has  the  city  of  Newport  been  honoured  by  the  pres- 
ence of  distinguished  guests,  and  it  is  honoured  now  by  the  presence 
of  two  persons  who  have  devoted  their  lives  to  charity  and  philan- 
thropy." 

That  simple  final  clause  forms  a  fitting  close  to  this  brief  sketch  of 
Jacob  H.  Schifl^". 


CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB 

THERE  is  only  one  man  in  the  world  who  ever  tore  up  a 
$1,000,000  a  year  salary  contract. 
When  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  took  over  the 
Carnegie  Company  it  acquired  as  one  of  its  obligations — it  really  was 
an  asset — a  contract  to  pay  Charles  M.  Schwab  that  unheard-of 
sum  as  a  minimum  annually. 

J.  P.  Morgan  didn't  know  what  to  do  about  it.  The  highest  salary 
on  record  was  $100,000.     He  was  in  a  quandary. 

Finally,  he  summoned  Schwab,  showed  him  the  contract  and  hesi- 
tatingly asked  what  could  be  done  about  it. 

"This,"  said  Schwab. 

He  tore  it  up. 

That  contract  had  netted  Schwab  $1,300,000  the  previous  year. 

"I  didn't  care  what  salary  they  paid  me.  I  was 'not  animated 
by  money  motives.  I  believed  in  what  I  was  trying  to  do  and  I 
wanted  to  see  it  brought  about.  I  cancelled  that  contract  without 
a  moment's  hesitation,"  Mr.  Schwab  explained  to  me. 

There  was  a  sequel.  Morgan  later  told  Carnegie  how  magnani- 
mously Schwab  had  acted.  Carnegie  remarked;  "Charlie  is  the 
only  man  I  know  who  would  have  done  that." 

And  he  promptly  sent  Schwab  in  bonds  the  full  amount  of  the  unex- 
pired contract. 

Carnegie  has  declared  publicly  since:  "I  owe  my  fortune  chiefly 
to  two  men.  Bill  Jones  and  Charlie  Schwab." 

Schwab,  let  me  add,  for  years  picked  all  the  Carnegie  partners. 
Indeed,  the  only  man  to  whom  the  canny  Scot  ever  gave  carte 
blanche  was  Schwab. 

Although  rich  beyond  his  wildest  imaginings,  Schwab  is  to-day  the 
hardest-working  man  in  the  steel  industry.     Why.?     Let  him  answer: 

"Why  do  I  work ?  What  do  I  work  for.''  I  have  more  money  than 
I  can  begin  to  spend.  I  have  no  children,  nobody  to  leave  it  to. 
My  wife  is  rich  enough  in  her  own  right.  She  does  not  need  it.  I 
do  not  need  it.  I  work  just  for  the  pleasure  I  find  in  work,  the  satis- 
faction there  is  in  developing  things,  in  creating.  Also,  the  associa- 
tions business  begets.  The  man  who  does  not  work  for  the  love  of 
work  but -only  for  money  is  not  likely  to  make  money  nor  to  find 
much  fun  in  life." 

336 


CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB 


CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB  337 

Since  much  foolishness  has  been  printed  on  the  subject,  let  me — 
let  Mr.  Schwab  rather — clear  up  this  other  point:  Why  did  he  give 
up  the  Steel  Corporation  presidency  after  three  years? 

Here  is  the  plain  truth,  as  told  me  by  Mr.  Schwab,  who  has  never 
been  accused  of  lying: 

"I  never  had  a  difference  with  Mr.  Morgan  in  my  life.  We  were 
always  the  closest  possible  friends.  The  reason  I  resigned  was  be- 
cause I  could  not  do  what  I  had  been  doing  all  my  life.  I  was  ham- 
pered by  directors  and  other  interests  who  did  not  give  me  sufficient 
play  to  enable  me  to  be  useful.  If  I  thought  a  mill  ought  to  be  built 
at  Pittsburgh  I  didn't  want  an  important  director  telling  me  it  ought 
to  be  built  at  Chicago.  If  I  had  a  strike  involving  a  principle,  I 
didn't  want  to  be  told  to  settle  it  for  fear  it  might  affect  the  stock 
market.     So  I  quit." 

Fate  had  greater  things  in  store  for  him.  To-day  Schwab  is  ranked 
as  one  of  the  greatest  creative  forces  in  American  industry.  Also, 
he  is  perhaps  the  most  popular  business  man  in  the  country. 

He  has  had  more  "titles"  conferred  upon  him  than  any  other  living 
American.  For  example,  "The  World's  Greatest  Steel-Maker," 
"The  Most  Successful  Salesman  Ever  Born,"  "The  Million-Dollar- 
Salary  Man,"  "The  Originator  of  the  Steel  Trust,"  "The  Boy  Presi- 
dent," "The  Developer  of  Young  Men,"  "The  Creator  of  the  Ameri- 
can Krupp's,""The  Defender  of  America,"  "The  Incurable  Optimist," 
"The  Man  With  the  Golden  Smile,"  "The  Bethlehem  Miracle- 
Worker." 

This  article  might  well  be  called  "The  Truth  About  Schwab." 
His  picturesque  career  has  inspired  so  much  fiction  that  it  is  gratifying 
to  be  able  to  dissipate  the  fables  and  to  set  the  record  straight. 

The  Schwab  family  moved  from  Williamsburg,  Pa.,  where  Charles 
Michael  was  born  on  F'ebruary  18,  1862,  to  the  picturesque  hamlet 
of  Loretto,  Pa.,  on  a  crest  of  the  Alleghanies,  when  the  future  steel 
king  was  a  little  lad.  On  leaving  the  local  school  he  spent  two  years 
at  St.  Francis  College.  As  with  many  men  destined  to  make  a  mark, 
he  became  enamoured  of  mathematics.  He  also  found  chemistry 
fascinating.     Engineering  problems  became  his  hobby. 

But,  alas,  instead  of  landing  in  a  collar-and-cuff  position  where  he 
could  use  his  knowledge  and  talent,  he  was  obliged,  at  sixteen,  to 
mount  the  driver's  seat  of  a  coach  his  father  ran  between  Loretto  and 
Cresson  Station.     Undiscouraged,  he  cracked  jokes  as  well  as  his  whip. 

His  first  real  job  was  as  a  grocery-boy  in  the  store  at  Braddock 
of  A.  H.  Speigelmire,  an  old  friend  of  Papa  Schwab,  who  also  kept  a 
store.  From  the  first  day  he  donned  his  apron  he  had  his  eye  on  the 
great  steel  mills  there,  the  Edgar  Thomson  Works,  owned  by  Carnegie 
Brothers  &  Company.     But  meanwhile,   although  he  disliked  the 


338  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

work,  he  contrived  to  liven  up  things  at  the  store.  He  smiled  on 
customers,  chatted  with  them,  jumped  at  chances  to  please  them  by 
carrying  parcels  or  doing  little  errands,  and  in  the  evenings  he  made 
things  pleasant  in  the  Speigelmire  household  by  playing  the  piano, 
singing  for  them,  and  teaching  the  youngsters  music.  "He's  willing 
and  bright  and  wants  to  know  everything,"  was  his  employer's 
description  of  him.  The  mathematician  was  not  above  learning  how 
to  handle  groceries.     He  well  earned  his  $30  a  month  (without  board). 

One  day  Captain  William  R.  Jones,  then  superintendent  of  the 
steel  works,  the  right-hand  man  of  Andrew  Carnegie,  and  the  best- 
known  steel-maker  in  the  country,  stepped  into  the  store. 

"I  asked  'Bill'  for  a  place  in  the  mill,"  Mr.  Schwab  relates.  "He 
asked  me:  'Can  you  drive  stakes .f"  I  replied:  *I  can  drive  any- 
thing!'    I  started  driving  stakes  next  morning,  at  a  dollar  a  day." 

In  six  years  the  dollar-a-day  stake  driver  was  superintendent  of 
the  works,  then  the  foremost  steel-making  plant  in  America! 

"They  say  it  was  your  piano-playing  that  attracted  Carnegie?"  I 
probed. 

"There's  no  truth  in  that  at  all,"  replied  Mr.  Schwab  with  spirit. 
"I  never  played  for  Mr.  Carnegie  in  my  life.  It  was  Captain  'Bill* 
that  took  me  to  Carnegie  one  day  and  said:  'Andy,  here's  a  young 
man  who  knows  as  much  about  this  mill  as  I  do.'" 

Carnegie,  like  Captain  "Bill,"  "took  to"  the  young  engineer.  So 
did  the  men.  Everybody  was  happy  when  "Charlie"  was  around. 
His  enthusiasm,  his  joyousness,  his  industry  proved  infectious.  '  His 
ability  to  overcome  difficulties  was  on  every  one's  tongue.  He  had 
continued  his  study  of  chemistry  and  engineering,  had  conducted  in- 
numerable experiments  to  test  the  strength  and  qualities  of  the  metal 
under  different  processes,  and,  as  Carnegie  later  handsomely  admitted, 
"knew  more  about  steel  than  any  other  man  in  the  world." 

His  next  step  was  to  the  head  of  the  engineering  department  of  the 
whole  Carnegie  organization.  Here  he  taught  the  industry  a  new 
wrinkle.  He  conceived  and  planned  a  greater  plant  than  any  then 
in  existence,  the  Homestead  Steel  Works,  on  the  principle  of  feeding 
the  raw  material  at  one  end,  keeping  it  in  continuous  motion,  and  hav- 
ing it  come  out  in  the  form  of  finished  products  at  the  other  end — a 
system  since  widely  adopted  in  various  industries.  At  this  time  he 
had  some  6,000  or  7,000  men  under  him. 

All  this  at  twenty-four! 

When  the  Carnegie  management  was  confronted  with  the  nerve- 
shaking  problem  of  re-opening  the  Homestead  Works  after  the  terrible 
strike  of  1892,  when  the  successful  handling  of  the  men  appeared  im- 
possible, they  turned  to  young  Schwab,  appointed  him  superintendent 
of  the  plant,  and  told  him  to  see  what  he  could  do. 


CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB  339 

Do!  Why,  there  was  only  one  thing  for  Schwab  to  do — turn  every 
workman  into  a  rooter  and  make  the  plant  the  most  pleasant  and 
profitable  in  the  world.  The  Schwab  smile,  the  Schwab  cordiality, 
the  Schwab  radiancy,  the  Schwab  sincerity,  the  Schwab  enthusiasm, 
plus  the  Schwab  ability  amounting  to  genius,  won  all  hands  and  all 
hearts.  The  younger  Pitt  never  showed  greater  tact,  diplomacy,  and 
statesmanship. 

Election  to  the  presidency  of  the  Carnegie  Company,  the  greatest 
prize. in  the  whole  steel  industry,  was  his  reward.  He  had  won  it  in 
fifteen  years  from  his  debut  as  a  dollar-a-day  stake  driver,  won  it  by 
basic  study  of  the  metal  and  of  men,  won  it  by  hard  work  with  a  will 
and  a  smile,  won  it  by  sheer  achievement  in  evolving  methods  of 
producing  steel  faster,  cheaper,  and  in  greater  quantities — and  in 
keeping  workmen  happy  and  loyal  at  their  tasks.  At  thirty-five 
Schwab  stood  on  the  top  step  of  the  steel  ladder. 

His  fame  was  international.  Whereas  England  was  master  of  the 
world's  steel  markets  when  Schwab  was  stake-driving,  he  had  now 
done  much  to  change  that.  His  brilliantly  conceived  Homestead 
plant,  though  paying  wages  thrice  those  of  Europe,  could  meet  the 
keenest  of  European  competition.  The  United  States,  indeed,  was 
now  clipping  England's  wings. 

Arthur  Keen,  the  foremost  steel  manufacturer  in  Britain,  ap- 
proached the  young  American  genius  with  an  offer  of  a  fabulous 
salary — greater  far  than  any  salary  paid  any  man  in  any  country. 
Schwab  told  him  nothing  could  tempt  him  to  leave  his  friend  and 
benefactor,  Carnegie,  with  whom  by  this  time  he  was  on  terms  of 
filial  intimacy  and  affection.  To  nobody  did  Schwab  mention  the 
offer. 

Keen  and  Carnegie  met  later  at  a  dinner  of  the  British  Iron  and 
Steel  Institute  and  Keen  related  the  incident. 

"If  Charlie  is  worth  that  much  to  you,  he  is  worth  more  to  me," 
was,  in  effect,  Carnegie's  reply. 

The  moment  he  got  back  he  sent  for  Schwab,  told  him  he  loved  him 
all  the  more  for  his  loyalty — and  gave  him  a  long-term  contract 
worth  a  minimum  of  $ i ,cxdo,ooo  a  year! 

But  Charles  Michael  Schwab  had  still  greater  dreams.  Why  not 
make  the  United  States  the  foremost  steel-producing  country  in  the 
world,  able  to  meet  and  beat  Europe  in  foreign  markets? 

In  his  fertile  mind  he  conjured  up  a  vision  such  as  the  world  had 
never  known,  a  vision  of  the  greatest,  strongest  industrial  organization 
on  earth,  coordinated,  integrated,  self-contained,  with  abundant 
capital,  the  best  of  brains,  and  ramifications  covering  the  globe. 

Fascinated,  he  began  to  act.  His  first  overtures  were  repelled  by 
J.  P.  Morgan  and  others.     But  Schwab,  as  Carnegie  was  and  is  fond 


340  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

of  saying,  "can  hurdle  any  obstacle."  At  a  dinner  given  in  his 
honour  in  December,  1900,  he  glowingly  laid  his  vision  before  the 
greatest  financiers  and  business  men  in  America,  He  was  as  one 
inspired.  Donning  the  mantle  of  a  prophet,  he  pictured  the  glorious 
possibilities  of  the  new  steel  age. 

His  entrancing  outline  of  the  Steel  Trust  captivated  Morgan.  And 
within  a  few  months  the  billion-dollar  United  States  Steel  Corporation 
was  formed,  with  Schwab  as  its  president  and  the  owner  of  {528,ooo,ooo 
(par  value)  of  its  capital  stock.  This  at  thirty-nine!  He  was  "The 
Boy  President." 

On  resigning  in  impaired  health  at  the  end  of  three  strenuous  years 
after  the  great  machine  was  functioning,  he  announced  publicly:  "I 
propose  to  devote  my  whole  attention  to  regaining  my  strength  and 
won't  take  any  position  until  it  is  restored." 

He  rested,  though  he  was  not  wholly  idle,  for  two  or  three  years 
before  reentering  the  business  arena,  at  South  Bethlehem,  Pa. 

Miracles  have  been  wrought  at  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Works,  all 
the  world  knows.  The  world  imagines  Charles  M.  Schwab  has 
wrought  them.  The  world  is  mistaken.  The  miracles  have  been 
wrought  by  others — by  fifteen  young  partners.  So  Mr.  Schwab 
stoutly  declares. 

"There  has  really  been  nothing  wonderful  about  my  career,"  pro- 
tested Mr.  Schwab  when  I  broached  the  subject.  "I  am  not  a  be- 
liever in  genius.  I  believe  Solomon  was  right  when  he  said:  'The 
race  is  not  to  the  swift  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong.'  Circumstances, 
environment,  opportunity,  have  a  lot  to  do  with  a  man's  success  in 
life. 

"But  of  course  there  are  qualities  that  go  to  make  a  man  really 
successful.  A  man  must  have  personality — that  is  very  important. 
He  must  have  industry,  application,  and  commonsense — no  man  can 
do  much  if  he  has  not  been  endowed  with  a  reasonable  amount  of 
brains.  He  must  earn  a  reputation  for  unimpeachable  integrity,  he 
must  tell  the  absolute  truth,  he  must  cultivate  good-fellowship,  he 
must  be  a  man  other  men  will  like  and  trust.  Optimism,  cheerfulness, 
readiness  to  encourage  and  inspire  others  also  help. 

"Any  man  can  learn  to  do  anything  that  any  other  man  has  done 
If  he  will  apply  himself  to  the  doing  of  it. 

"I  happened  to  be  fortunate  in  getting  into  an  industry  in  its  in- 
fancy that  offered  phenomenal  opportunities,  that's  all.     And  I  took 

Ttsks  • 

"How?"  I  asked. 

This  started  Mr.  Schwab  on  the  story  of  Bethlehem's  upbuilding. 
The  Bethlehem  Steel  Company  was  bankrupt  when  Schwab  took 
hold  of  it  last  time — he  bought  control  once  before,  when  he  was  with 


CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB  341 

the  Steel  Corporation,  sold  out  to  the  ill-fated  United  States  Ship- 
building Company,  and  took  it  back  when  that  enterprise  collapsed. 

"When  I  took  hold  of  Bethlehem  the  second  time  I  didn't  take  one 
well-known  steel  man  from  anywhere.  I  selected  fifteen  young  men 
right  out  of  the  mill  and  made  them  my  partners.  I  believe  in  profit 
sharing — I  believe  it  will  ultimately  settle  the  labour  problem. 
Andrew  Carnegie  was  the  most  successful  profit-producer  in  this 
country  and  he  gave  his  employees  half  of  his  profits  in  bonuses. 

"If  you  want  anything  well  done  in  life  don't  engage  a  man  of 
great  reputation  to  do  it.  Get  a  man  who  has  his  reputation  to 
make;  he  will  give  you  his  very  best  individual,  undivided  effort. 

"Of  the  fifteen  I  selected  not  one  has  proved  a  failure.  I  am  proud 
of  that  and  proud  of  them.  One  of  them  was  a  crane  fellow  at  ^75  a 
month.  He  is  now  earning  five  times  as  much  as  any  other  steel  em- 
ployee in  the  United  States  and  is  several  times  a  millionaire.  This 
is  Eugene  G.  Grace,  president  of  the  Bethlehem  Company  and  the 
man  chiefly  responsible  for  its  success.  He  is  fifty  times  the  man  I 
ever  was." 

I  smiled. 

"I  mean  that,"  Mr.  Schwab  affirmed. 

Mr.  Schwab  didn't  say  that  he  closed  up  his  palatial  home  on  River- 
side Drive,  migrated  to  the  obscure  Pennsylvania  village,  took  off 
his  coat  and  worked  day  and  night  for  eight  years,  often  against  finan- 
cial and  other  discouragements,  nursing  the  bankrupt  Bethlehem 
back  to  health  and  strength, 

"I  backed  Bethlehem  with  every  dollar  I  had  and  could  borrow," 
Mr.  Schwab  went  on  in  reference  to  his  having  taken  risks.  "I  put 
my  own  name  to  every  piece  of  paper  issued.  Then,  also,  I  took  hold 
of  Gray's  invention  for  making  structural  steel  after  every  important 
company  in  the  country  had  turned  it  down  and,  because  I  was  con- 
vinced I  was  right,  I  spent  ^15,000,000  for  the  proving  of  that  one 
invention.  Was  that  not  taking  risks. ^  But  it  gave  us  the  leadership 
in  the  structural  steel  business  in  the  United  States  and  in  the  world. 
There  had  never  been  a  conspicuously  successful  steel  plant  in  the 
East.  But  I  believed  Bethlehem  had  all  the  elements  of  success. 
It  is  some  satisfaction  to  have  proved  that  my  judgment  was  right." 

I  cannot  attempt  to  describe  Mr.  Schwab's  activities  of  the  last  ten 
years — how  he  worked  at  the  plant  early  and  late  encouraging  and 
enthusing  his  men;  how  he  evolved  the  most  scientific  cost-ascertaining 
and  profit-sharing  plan  ever  adopted  by  any  great  enterprise;  how  he 
crossed  and  re-crossed  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  booking  greater 
orders  than  any  other  man  ever  aspired  to  secure;  how  he  went  straight 
to  Kitchener  when  the  war  began,  told  him  a  few  useful  truths,  and 
came  back  with  enough  business  to  boom  Bethlehem  as  it  had  never 


342  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

boomed  before.  I  can  mention  merely  a  few  facts  about  the  Bethle- 
hem Steel  Corporation  and  its  activities. 

Schwab  has  spent  well  over  ^100,000,000  in  strengthening  and 
expanding  it  and  in  acquiring  subsidiaries. 

Expenditures  totalling  $100,000,000  were  sanctioned  in  1916  to 
cover  the  ensuing  few  years. 

The  corporation  (with  subsidiaries)  employs  75,000  men  all  told. 

Its  annual  pay-roll  exceeds  $80,000,000,  or  nearly  $7,000,000  a 
month. 

It  .is  a  greater  producer  of  engines  of  war  than  the  far-famed 
German  Krupp's. 

It  is  now,  in  conjunction  with  its  subsidiaries,  and  its  properties 
in  Chile  and  Cuba,  next  in  size  to  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation. 

Its  shipbuilding  companies  on  both  coasts  give  it  40  per  cent,  of 
America's  total  shipbuilding  facilities. 

Its  war  orders  from  the  Allies  are  unofficially  computed  at 
$500,000,000. 

Bethlehem  Steel  to-day  forms  a  bulwark  for  the  United  States. 
Said  Mr.  Schwab  in  June,  1917: 

"Bethlehem  Steel  is  to-day  putting  $20,000,000  into  plants  entirely 
for  the  use  of  the  Government.  In  peace  time  such  plant  will  have 
no  value,  but  there  are  times  when  more  than  the  business  view  is 
necessary.  We  know  that  this  work  ought  to  be  done,  and  we  are 
doing  it. 

"We  feel  that  the  plants  of  the  Bethlehem  Steel  Corporation  for 
ordnance  making,  for  steel  manufacture,  and  for  shipbuilding — for  we 
build  nearly  40  per  cent,  of  all  the  tonnage  of  ships  turned  out  in  the 
United  States — constitute  a  national  asset  of  supreme  value  at  a 
crisis  like  this.  It  is  our  ambition  to  make  that  asset  of  the  greatest 
possible  effectiveness  in  assuring  for  our  country  and  for  our  allies  an 
overwhelming  victory  in  this,  the  greatest  of  all  wars. 

"Business  must  be  profitable  if  it  is  to  continue  to  succeed,  but  the 
glory  of  business  is  to  make  it  so  successful  that  it  may  do  things 
that  are  great  chiefly  because  they  ought  to  be  done.  We  at  Bethle- 
hem are  trying  to  conduct  a  profitable  business,  but,  profit  or  no 
profit,  Bethlehem  Steel  has  volunteered  to  serve  the  American  Govern- 
ment, and  to  that  service  we  dedicate  every  man  and  every  material 
resource  which  we  can  control." 

On  the  same  occasion — a  talk  to  a  salesmen's  congress — Mr. 
Schwab  made  this  statement,  illuminative  of  his  humane  qualities: 

"I  may  induce  you  to  buy  large  quantities  of  goods  from  me,  but 
unless  I  can  induce  my  organization,  down  to  the  humblest  workman, 
to  want  to  produce  those  goods  economically  and  efficiently,  my  skill 
in  selling  you  the  goods  is  wasted. 


CHARLES  M.  SCHWAB  343 

"One  of  our  great  efforts  at  Bethlehem  is  to  seek  to  instil  confidence 
and  enthusiasm  in  our  own  men. 

"Bethlehem  has  prospered,  but  the  fact  about  Bethlehem  in  which 
I  most  keenly  rejoice  is  that  our  men  also  have  prospered.  The  aver- 
age earnings  of  each  wage-earner  in  our  employ  was  in  1915  a  little 
over  $900,  whereas  for  1916  the  average  earnings  were  over  $1,200 
per  man,  an  increase  of  more  than  30  per  cent,  in  one  year.  Since 
January  i,  191 7,  we  have  increased  the  wages  of  our  men  another 
10  per  cent. 

"These  large  earnings  have  been  realized  because  in  every  instance 
possible  the  man  obtained  a  share  of  the  profits  which  he  helped  to 
create.  And  that  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  our  men  have  not  only 
been  prosperous,  but  enthusiastic  in  their  work. 

"The  labour  problem  is  far  from  being  solved,  but  if  the  managers 
of  industry  can  develop  some  universal  plan  which  will  make  labour 
not  only  well-paid  but  happy  in  doing  the  work  itself,  one  of  the 
greatest  possible  boons  to  mankind  will  have  been  realized." 

Bethlehem's  $15,000,000  common  shares  rose  from  $25  before  the 
war  to  $600  in  191 5,  making  many  Schwab  followers  millionaires 
and  eclipsing  the  record  of  all  other  "war  stocks."  The  company 
now  pays  dividends  of  30  per  cent,  a  year  on  its  increased  common 
stock,  $60,000,000. 

Schwab  early  in  the  war  was  offered  $53,000,000  for  his  holdings — 
said  to  be  approximately  90,000  preferred  and  60,000  common — with 
the  choice  of  remaining  at  the  head  of  the  company  for  ten  years. 
The  offer  did  not  even  tempt  him.  Money  is  not  his  goal.  His  am- 
bition is  to  build  up  such  an  organization  as  he  visioned  at  that  dinner 
in  1900,  an  organization  that  will  contribute  to  raising  the  United 
States  to  first  place  among  the  great  nations  of  the  earth. 

Like  Carnegie,  Schwab  is  a  lavish  philanthropist.  A  beautiful 
Catholic  Church  at  Loretto,  a  convent  house  at  Cresson,  a  model 
road  in  place  of  the  dilapidated  one  where  he  used  to  drive  his  coach, 
a  church  at  Braddock,  an  industrial  school  at  Homestead,  a  school 
and  an  auditorium  at  Weatherly,  all  in  Pennsylvania,  a  recreation 
park  and  school  on  Staten  Island,  are  among  his  recorded  benefac- 
tions. Not  long  ago  a  $2,000,000  endowment  for  St.  Francis  College, 
at  Loretto,  was  reported.  His  unrecorded  benefactions  probably 
outnumber  this  list. 

Mrs.  Schwab,  who  before  her  marriage  in  1883  was  Miss  Emma 
Dinkey  (sister  of  A.  C.  Dinkey,  the  steel  master),  is  noted  for  her 
charities  and  for  her  musical  and  artistic  accomplishments.  She 
helped  Mr.  Schwab  with  the  experiments  that  aided  him  in  acquiring 
the  knowledge  of  steel  that  was  the  foundation  of  his  earliest  suc- 
cesses. 


JOHN  G.  SHEDD 

WHAT  have  your  policies  been?"  I  asked  the  head  of  the 
largest  wholesale  and  retail  dry-goods  house  in  the  world. 
"We  have   no  policies,"  he  replied;  "we  have  certain 
fixed  principles.     When  your  principles  are  rigiit,  you  don't  have  to 
bother  about  policies — they  will  take  care  of  themselves." 

Who  was  the  speaker?  You  probably  do  not  even  know  his  name. 
That  is  because  his  modesty  is  the  only  quality  that  exceeds  his  fore- 
sight. 

One  day  a  youth,  raised  on  a  backwoods  farm  of  New  Hampshire, 
walked  into  the  greatest  store  in  Chicago  and  thus  addressed  its  head: 

"Mr.  Field,  I  would  like  to  get  a  job  here  in  your  store." 

"What  can  you  do?"  asked  the  merchant  prince. 

"I  can  sell  any  goods  of  any  kind  or  character  your  store  has  for 
sale,"  was  the  confident  reply. 

"Then  I  can  give  you  a  job.     You  can  start  at  once  at  ^lO  a  week." 

Years  later  Marshall  Field,  then  everywhere  recognized  as  the 
greatest  merchant  in  America,  was  summoned  before  a  Senatorial 
committee  to  give  evidence  on  the  Dingley  Tariff  Bill.  There  was 
much  interest  in  the  appearance  of  Chicago's  great  mercantile  mag- 
nate.    On  rising,  Mr.  Field  began: 

"I  am  holding  in  my  hand  a  letter  from  a  man  I  believe  to  be  the 
best  merchant  in  the  United  States." 

Everybody  opened  their  eyes.  Was  not  the  witness  himself  ad- 
mittedly the  best  merchant  in  the  land  ?     Whom  else  could  he  mean? 

There  was  much  mental  questioning  during  the  reading  of  the  com- 
munication as  to  the  name  that  would  be  signed  at  the  bottom.  The 
signature  was  this: 


For  over  twenty  years  the  writer  of  that  letter  has  been  the  real, 
active  head  of  Marshall  Field  &  Company.  And  those  who  know 
best  unanimously  declare  that  the  growth  and  scientific  development 
of  Marshall  Field  &  Company's  business  has  been  due  chiefly  to  the 


344 


JOHN  G.  SHEDl) 


JOHN  G.  SHEDD  345 

extraordinary  foresight,  the  exhaustless  initiative,  the  inordinate 
practical  abiHty,  and  rare  imagination  of  John  Graves  Shedd.  Al- 
though he  did  not  become  the  titular  head  of  the  business  until  its 
founder  died,  early  in  1906,  Mr.  Shedd  was  its  actual  directing  head 
for  a  dozen  years  before  then.  His  work  was  so  little  trumpeted  that 
few  people  outside  the  concern  were  familiar  with  the  facts. 

When  the  New  Hampshire  youth  first  entered  the  store  its  sales 
totalled  less  than  ^15,000,000  a  year. 

To-day,  under  President  Shedd,  Marshall  Field  &  Company  are 
doing  a  business  of  over  $100,000,000  a  year.  They  carry  over  a 
million  articles  and  do  25,000,000  transactions  a  year.  On  special 
exposition  days  more  than  300,000  customers  have  visited  the  retail 
store  between  the  hours  of  8:30  a.m.  and  5:30  p.m.  The  store's 
floorspace  covers  fifty-five  acres,  calling  for  over  thirty  miles  of  carpet. 
Its  electrical  power  would  serve  a  city  of  150,000  inhabitants.  The 
store's  eighty-two  elevators  carry,  on  busy  days,  more  passengers  in 
ten  hours  than  are  carried  in  twenty-four  hours  by  both  the  South 
Side  and  the  Metropolitan  West  Side  Railways  of  Chicago.  To 
deliver  goods  more  than  350  motor  trucks  and  motor  wagons  daily 
cover  350  square  miles,  and  when  the  holida}^  business  is  at  its  height 
fifty  additional  motor  vehicles  are  added.  The  retail  store  alone 
delivered  in  one  December  day,  within  the  territory  covered  by  their 
own  equipment,  approximately  100,000  packages. 

President  Shedd  has  under  him  some  20,000  employees,  including 
as  many  as  12,500  in  the  retail  store  at  holiday  times  and  an  average 
of  4,000  in  the  wholesale  store. 

Then  the  company  owns  important  factories  at  Spray  and  Draper, 
North  Carolina,  for  the  manufacture  of  cotton  and  woollen  goods; 
also  lace,  lace  curtain,  handkerchief,  and  bedspread  mills  at  Zion  City, 
Illinois,  as  well  as  factories  in  Chicago  for  the  manufacture  of  mis- 
cellaneous merchandise. 

It  was  Mr.  Shedd's  ability  to  foresee  mercantile  trends  that  led 
Marshall  Field  &  Company  to  take  up  the  production  of  their  own 
merchandise  on  a  large  scale,  an  innovation  that  enabled  them  to 
expand  steadily  and  healthily  while  the  majority  of  other  huge  dry- 
goods  jobbing  houses,  lacking  such  foresight,  went  to  the  wall. 

"Let  us  adopt  'From  cotton  mills  to  consumer'  as  one  of  our 
mottoes,"  Mr.  Shedd  propounded  years  ago  when  he  realized  that  the 
heyday  of  the  middleman  was  passed ;  and  it  was  probably  this  stroke 
of  mercantile  genius  that  saved  Marshall  Field  &  Company  from  the 
common  fate.  It  afforded  unlimited  scope  for  creative  talent,  for 
originating  exclusive  designs,  for  upholding  and  carrying  a  step  for- 
ward the  Marshall  Field  idea  of  "Better  Quality." 

Also,  it  opened  up  new  channels  to  Mr.  Shedd  for  the  exercise  of  his 


346  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

inventive  skill,  for  to  him,  a  born  merchant  leader,  there  was  as 
much  genuine  pleasure  and  satisfaction  in  thinking  up  and  evolving 
some  new  "creation"  in  merchandise  as  ever  artist  experienced  in 
painting  a  masterpiece.  I  have  never  seen  sculptor  or  artist  handle 
marble  or  canvas  with  more  touching  enthusiasm  and  affection  than 
John  Shedd  handled  such  commonplace  but  useful  things  as  ginghams 
and  other  cotton  fabrics  designed  and  produced  under  the  Marshall 
Field  aegis.  To  most  of  us  a  yard  of  cotton  dress  goods  is  a  yard  of 
cotton  goods  and  nothing  more;  to  him  it  was  the  embodiment  of 
thought,  of  art,  of  creative  power — a  product  of  which  the  workman 
need  not  feel  ashamed.  Manifestly  the  cotton  fibres  and  the  delicate 
colourings  had  been  mixed  with  enthusiasm  and  with  brains. 

Mr.  Shedd  is  little  given  to  talking,  but  after  a  while  he  became 
interested  in  the  object  of  these  sketches  explaining  the  rise  of  notably 
successful  men,  and  during  our  conversation  he  dropped  many  sage 
sayings. 

"Look  at  those  photographs  on  that  wall" — Mr.  Shedd  pointed  to 
the  wall  of  his  private  office  hung  with  a  dozen  pictures  of  responsible- 
looking  men.  "There  you  see  every  one  of  Mr.  Field's  partners  and 
not  one  of  them  but  started  with  him  at  the  bottom.  Two  of  the 
most  successful  department  managers  began,  one  at  $4.  and  the  other 
at  $2.50  a  week.  They  were  all  men  of  limited  education,  but  they 
were  bright,  discerning,  deserving  fellows  with  initiative,  willingness, 
and  a  desire  to  do  whatever  was  necessary,  not  merely  for  their  own 
progress,  but  for  the  progress  of  the  business.  They  placed  first  the 
welfare  of  the  organization.  Their  own  welfare  prospered  as  a  matter 
of  course  as  the  business  prospered. 

"Too  many  young  men  are  more  concerned  about  how  they  start 
than  how  they  are  likely  to  finish.  This  is  especially  true  of  college 
students.  Most  of  them  would  rather  begin  at  a  fairly  high  salary, 
without  considering  the  goal,  than  start  at  a  low  wage  where  there  is 
more  inducement  at  the  top. 

"It  is  wisely  ordained  that  no  one  can  start  at  the  top  but  must 
climb  to  get  there;  for  it  is  this  necessity  for  starting  at  the  bottom 
that  gives  the  right  stamp  of  young  man  a  chance  to  rise  above  the 
common  level. 

"Any  one  pitchforked  into  a  place  at  the  top  would  be  certain  to 
fall  off  and  break  his  neck. 

"It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  almost  all  the  Marshall  Field  partners 
have  been  common  or,  at  the  most,  high  school  graduates,  not  univer- 
sity men.  I  believe  in  higher  education  and  would  have  chosen  a 
college  course  had  it  been  within  my  reach,  even  though  it  probably 
would  have  detracted  from  my  ability  to  acquire  whatever  modest 
business  reputation  I  have  attained.     The  trouble  is  that  your  average 


JOHN  G.  SHEDD  347 

college  student  comes  along  wearing  his  diploma  on  the  lapd  of  his 
coat  and  proclaims,  *I  am  a  college  fellow.'  He  wants  to  keep  his 
hands  clean.  He  has  no  patience  to  learn  the  A  B  C  of  a  business. 
He  looks  for  the  highest  paid  employment  he  can  find  at  the  start  in- 
stead of  entering  the  bottom  of  a  business  with  a  future. 

"The  huge  business  organizations  of  to-day  afford  more  opportu- 
nities for  earning  large  incomes  than  did  the  multitude  of  small  stores 
of  former  days.  An  income  of  $10,000  a  year  on  a  capital  of  $100,000 
would  be  considered  a  good  return,  whereas  in  large  establishments 
there  are  now  many  positions  paying  from  $10,000  to  $50,000  a  year. 

"The  very  best  thing  about  a  business  like  ours  is  that  it  has  been 
in  continuous  operation  for  over  fifty  years,  and  during  that  whole 
period  not  one  old  employee  has  been  discharged  for  either  lack  of 
work  or  because  of  depressed  general  conditions.  Steady  employ- 
ment at  generous  wages  gives  a  better  opportunity  to  save  money 
than  more  or  less  temporary  jobs  entailing  shifting  about. 

"There  is  no  lack  of  opportunity  in  the  world  to-day.  But  there 
is  great  lack  of  efficiency,  lack  of  readiness  to  seize  opportunity  when 
it  comes.  The  organization  that  maintains  a  high  state  of  efficiency 
can  usually  fill  its  executive  offices  from  within. 

"It  is  equally  true,  however,  that  no  store  can  be  better  than  its 
management. 

"Just  as  one  hot  box  upsets  the  proper  running  of  a  train,  so  lack  of 
efficiency  in  any  one  spot  upsets  the  whole  organization. 

"Size  alone  is  of  no  consequence;the  important  thing  is  the  standard 
by  which  a  business  grows.  If  a  business  is  run  honestly,  efiicicntl}', 
and  fulfills  a  useful  function  in  the  community,  it  cannot  well  be  too 
large. 

"With  us  we  have  had  just  one  central  thought,  one  end  toward 
which  we  have  all  worked — what  v,-e  call  the  Marshall  Field  idea. 
There  it  is " 

Mr.  Shedd  pointed  to  this  framed  statement  hanging  on  the  wall: 

The  Marshall  Field  y  Company  Idea 

To  do  the  right  thing,  at  the  right  time,  in  the  right  way; 
to  do  some  things  better  than  they  were  ever  done  before; 
to  eliminate  errors;  to  know  both  sides  of  the  question;  to 
be  courageous;  to  be  an  example;  to  work  for  love  of  the 
work;  to  anticipate  requirements;  to  develop  resources;  to 
recognize  no  impediments;  to  master  circumstances;  to  act 
from  reason  rather  than  rule;  to  be  satisfied  with  nothing 
short  of  perfection. 

"We  try  to  inculcate  that  idea  upon  all  employees,  and  any  who 
cannot  absorb  it  and  be  guided  by  it  must  go  elsewhere.     The  daily 


348  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

application  and  operation  of  that  idea  is  as  good  for  each  individual 
as  it  is  for  the  house.     Our  whole  aim,  you  thus  see,  is  service. 

"Every  large  employer  worthy  of  the  name  is  constantly  looking 
for  men  of  the  highest  efficiency  to  fill  important  places.  That  is  his 
most  important  duty,  the  selecting  and  placing  of  the  right  men  in  the 
right  positions.  The  employer  who  can  rear  and  train  employees  to 
take  the  principal  positions  can  thus  pave  the  way  for  promotion  all 
along  the  line.  This  makes  every  worker  feel  that  he  is  going  to  reach 
the  highest  point  his  merits  warrant. 

"Sometimes  it  is  necessary  to  reason  with  a  man  that  his  present 
job  is  better  for  him  than  one  higher  up  would  be,  since  he  would 
probably  fail  to  fill  it  satisfactorily  and  thus  become  a  misfit." 

The  career  of  John  Graves  Shedd  contains  nothing  hit-or-miss, 
nothing  haphazard,  nothing  hinged  on  chance.  From  the  very  outset 
he  formulated  plans  and  principles  and  moved  forward  unswervingly 
toward  their  consummation.  He  selected  a  harbour  toward  which 
to  sail  even  before  he  had  put  out  to  sea.  Then  he  steered  a  straight 
course. 

He  was  born  on  July  20,  1850,  on  a  farm  at  Alstead,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  very  early  had  to  perform  a  man's  work  in  the  field  and  in 
the  barn.  This  life,  with  its  lack  of  opportunity  for  advancement,  its 
isolation  from  social  and  intellectual  activities,  its  narrow  vision  and 
its  semi-poverty,  had  little  fascination  for  him.  There  were  no 
automobiles  on  farms  in  those  days,  not  even  facilities  for  installing 
bath  tubs  and  the  other  modern  domestic  conveniences  which  have 
gone  far  to  revolutionize  rural  life  during  more  recent  years.  The 
country  lad  did  much  serious  thinking  as  to  what  avenue  of  life  he 
should  follow,  and  finally  resolved  to  become  a  merchant,  as  good 
and  as  great  a  merchant  as  industry  and  honesty  could  make  him. 
Before  he  was  seventeen  he  left  his  father's  farm  and  entered  a  grocery 
store  at  Bellows  Falls,  Vermont,  at  ^1.50  a  week  and  his  board. 
From  the  start  he  felt  at  home  selling  things. 

"I  saved  most  of  the  ^75  I  received  for  my  first  year's  work  and 
felt  quite  a  capitalist,"  Mr.  Shedd  told  me.  Then  he  found  work  in 
a  general  store  in  his  native  town  at  $125  a  year,  but  of  this  he  had  to 
pay  $2  a  week  for  board  to  a  New  England  housewife  who  looked 
after  him  well  for  this  modest  sum.  A  fire  in  the  store,  which  forced 
him  to  find  another  job,  proved  a  disguised  blessing,  as  he  received 
$175  a  year  in  a  rival  store. 

"I  now  felt  on  the  highway  to  prosperity,"  commented  Mr.  Shedd. 
By  the  time  he  was  twenty  his  ability  had  become  marked  and  he 
accepted  what  was  regarded  as  a  most  tempting  offer  to  enter  a  dry- 
goods  store  at  Rutland,  Vermont.  The  salary  was  $300  a  year  with 
board. 


JOHN  G.  SHEDD  349 

The  best  dry-goods  store  in  Rutland,  however,  was  owned  by  Ben- 
jamin H.  Burt,  a  merchant  of  more  than  local  fame,  whose  principles 
and  practices  were  far  ahead  of  those  then  generally  current.  His  keen 
eye  did  not  overlook  the  ability  of  the  newcomer  from  the  Granite 
State,  and  to  secure  his  services  Mr.  Burt  offered  to  double  his 
salary  and  allow  him  a  commission  on  sales.  The  environment  here 
proved  most  congenial  and  Shedd  found  himself  developing  both 
mentally  and  commercially. 

His  goal,  however,  was  higher  than  anything  Rutland  could  offer. 
His  aim  was  not  to  become  a  large  toad  in  a  small  puddle,  but  to 
test  his  mettle  in  a  large  centre  where  he  would  have  to  match  his 
wits  against  the  keenest  of  mercantile  intellects.  He  had  diligently 
studied  dry  goods;  he  took  such  a  delight  in  satisfying  customers  that 
he  was  sure  nature  had  intended  him  for  a  salesman;  he  possessed  an 
adequate  measure  of  self-confidence — and  he  had  saved  money. 

With  great  regret  he  said  good-bye  to  his  tutor  and  benefactor,  Mr. 
Burt — ^whose  picture  to  this  day  Mr.  Shedd  keeps  close  at  his  hand 
in  his  office.     Chicago  was  his  destination. 

"I  was  determined,"  said  Mr.  Shedd  in  recounting  this  epochal 
step  in  his  career,  "to  get  a  position  in  the  best  store  in  the  city.  I 
had  heard  of  Field,  Leiter  &  Company  and  found  that  it  was  both  the 
best  and  the  biggest  house  in  Chicago.  Well,  I  got  a  job  in  it  as 
stockkeeper  and  salesman — and  I  am  still  here." 

Of  his  climb  from  the  bottom  to  the  top  of  the  world's  greatest 
dry-goods  enterprise,  Mr.  Shedd  could  not  be  induced  to  talk  further 
than  to  say  that  five  months  after  he  began,  on  August  7,  1872,  his 
pay  was  raised,  not  to  $12  which  had  been  stipulated,  but  to  ^14, 
Mr.  Field  explaining  that  this  w^as  in  consideration  of  his  notably 
good  work — "A  tribute  which  pleased  me  more  than  any  other  sub- 
sequent advancement  in  the  whole  course  of  my  career,"  added  Mr. 
Shedd. 

"It  was  an  inspiration  to  serve  a  man  like  Mr.  Field,"  declared 
Mr.  Shedd,  as  willing  to  talk  about  Mr.  Field  as  he  was  unwilling  to 
talk  about  himself. 

It  was  Mr.  Shedd's  good  fortune  to  be  placed  directly  under  Henry 
J.  Willing,  one  of  the  ablest  partners  ever  connected  with  Marshall 
Field.  He  was  an  inspiration  for  those  associated  with  him;  from 
him  they  learned  the  value  of  high  character,  ceaseless  energy,  and 
progressive  methods.  Within  four  years  Mr.  Shedd  became  head  of 
the  lace  and  embroidery  department — this  when  only  twenty-six 
years  of  age.  The  talent  he  displayed  for  analyzing  conditions,  for 
reading  trends,  and  for  skilful  merchandising  induced  Mr.  Field  to 
entrust,  not  one,  but  half-a-dozen  departments  to  his  care.  Before 
long  he  was  appointed  general  merchandise  manager  of  the  whole 


350  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

business,  a  position  carrying  tremendous  responsibilities  since  it  en- 
tailed oversight  of  the  buying  as  well  as  the  selling  of  millions  of  dol- 
lars' worth  of  goods  a  year.  It  took  him  just  twenty-one  years  to 
rise  from  $io  a  week  to  a  partnership  with  the  income  of  a  prince. 

When  the  firm  was  incorporated  in  1901,  Mr.  Shedd  was  given  rank 
second  only  to  Marshall  Field  himself,  the  latter  being  president  and 
the  former  vice-president.  The  bulk  of  the  active  work  fell  upon  the 
vice-president,  as  Mr.  Field  by  then  felt  entitled  to  relax  and  to  in- 
dulge his  fondness  for  travel.  For  years  before  Mr.  Field's  death, 
in  1906,  Mr.  Shedd  had  been  the  real  head  of  the  firm,  and  his  elec- 
tion to  the  presidency  followed  as  a  matter  of  course.  Mr.  Field's 
career  had  been  along  almost  exactly  the  same  lines  as  his  successor's. 
Both  had  been  farm  boys,  both  had  started  in  country  stores  in  New 
England,  both  migrated  to  Chicago  as  dry-goods  salesmen,  and  both 
believed  in  and  followed  the  same  principles.  Field  used  to  say  that 
he  wanted  brains,  not  money — and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  not  one  of  his 
partners  brought  a  dollar's  worth  of  outside  capital  into  the  business. 

"What  were  and  are  some  of  your  cardinal  principles?"  I  asked 
Mr.  Shedd.     He  replied: 

"Supply  nothing  but  serviceable  merchandise,  and  when  possible, 
of  better  quality  than  furnished  elsewhere;  always  satisfy  your  cus- 
tomer, no  matter  at  what  cost  or  inconvenience,  so  that  he  or  she  will 
become  one  of  your  best  advertisements;  conduct  business  on  as  near  a 
strictly  cash  basis  as  practicable  and  thus  avoid  bad  debts;  try  always 
to  read  coming  developments  and  adjust  your  activities  accordingly; 
and,  not  least  important,  treat  employees  with  the  greatest  considera- 
tion and  thus  evoke  their  loyalty." 

Mr.  Shedd  was  the  first  merchant  in  Chicago  to  introduce  the 
Saturday  half-holiday.  He  is  an  advocate  of  healthful  recreation  for 
both  employers  and  employees.  "I  regard  golf  as  one  of  the  greatest 
blessings  of  modern  times,"  Mr.  Shedd  remarked  to  me,  "for  it  has 
drawn  men  of  responsible  affairs  away  from  their  tasks  into  the  open 
air,  where  they  not  only  reinvigorate  their  health  but  form  new 
friendships  and  cultivate  social  intercourse.  This  has  tended  not 
only  to  clear  their  brains  but  to  develop  their  humanity." 

How  well  the  Marshall  Field  employees  have  been  provided  for 
may  be  gathered  from  these  facts:  A  large  portion  of  one  floor  is 
devoted  to  their  exclusive  use.  Reading  rooms  are  provided  for  men 
and  for  women  and  a  branch  of  the  Chicago  Public  Library  is  main- 
tained in  the  building.  There  are  medical  rooms,  with  nurses,  etc.; 
music  and  rest  rooms,  educational  motion  pictures  to  show  the  process 
of  manufacturing  textiles,  etc.;  lunch  rooms  and  cafeterias  which  serve 
an  average  of  3,000  employees  daily;  a  choral  society  of  150  members; 
a  baseball  league,  and  a  gymnasium.     Then  an  academy  is  provided 


JOHN  G.  SHEDD  351 

for  boys  and  girls  serving  in  the  store,  and  its  diploma  is  equivalent  to 
that  awarded  high  school  graduates-  Every  employee  receives  two 
weeks'  vacation  with  full  pay  each  summer.  The  management  en- 
courages young  men  to  enter  the  militia.  In  short,  conditions  are 
such  that  a  position  with  Marshall  Field  &  Company  is  a  coveted  one. 

Mr.  Shedd  is  a  director  of  several  railroads  and  financial  institutions. 
Nor  has  he  shirked  his  civic  responsibilities,  although  on  this  score  he 
remarked:  "It  is  unfortunate  that  under  modern  complex  conditions 
it  is  so  difficult  for  busy  business  men  to  take  an  adequate  part  in 
public  and  civic  affairs.  Any  business  that  is  left  to  run  itself  will 
run  downhill.  However,  we  have  tried  so  to  organize  things  that 
we  have  young  men  capable  of  relieving  the  older  heads  from  the 
necessity  of  overworking.  Whereas  twenty  years  ago  it  would  have 
been  thought  almost  a  crime  to  take  an  afternoon  off,  it  is  now  feasible 
and  not  accounted  foolish  to  ride  into  the  country  for  an  occasional 
game  of  golf."  Incidentally,  Mr.  Shedd  not  only  plays  a  good  game 
of  golf,  but  is  an  expert  horseback  rider  and  used  to  be  an  ardent 
cyclist  before  he  took  to  automobiling. 

Mr.  Shedd's  benefactions  to  the  Chicago  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  to  hospitals, 
and  to  other  worthy  causes  have  been  substantial,  but  conducted  so 
quietly  that  the  general  public  usually  have  learned  little  about  them 
■ — Mr.  Shedd  is  extraordinarily  quiet  and  unassuming.  To  his  native 
town,  Alstead,  he  has  donated  and  endowed  a  library  built  of  New 
Hampshire  granite,  a  gift  partly  inspired  by  the  recollection  of  the 
difficulty  he  experienced  when  a  boy  in  securing  good  books,  of 
which  he  was  then  and  is  still  fond. 

Mr.  Shedd  did  not  get  married  until  he  had  made  his  way  in  the 
world  and  until  he  had  wisdom  enough  to  select  a  suitable  life-partner. 
He  married  Miss  Mary  R.  Porter  of  his  home  town  of  Alstead,  in 
1878,  and  although  they  have  no  sons,  they  have  what  they  call  "the 
next  best  thing,"  two  sons-in-law,  their  two  daughters  being  now  Mrs. 
Laura  Shedd  Schweppe  of  Chicago  and  Lake  Forest,  Illinois,  and  Mrs. 
Helen  Shedd  Reed  of  Chicago.  The  Shedd  home  in  Chicago  is 
greatly  admired  by  students  of  architecture. 

"I  have  often  wondered  why  you  have  never  sought  to  connect 
your  name  with  the  title  of  the  firm,"  I  told  Mr.  Shedd. 

He  replied:  "I  have  always  considered  that  any  long-established 
institution  such  as  our  own,  with  a  strong  asset  of  good  will,  if  con- 
tinuously well  managed,  adds  strength  to  its  business  each  year  by 
the  continuity  of  style  of  its  firm  name,  though  the  personnel  of  its 
ownership  may  have  changed  completely." 

Have  you  not  noticed  that  the  men  who  have  done  most  are  often 
the  least  vain-glorious.'' 


EDWARD  C.  SIMMONS 

DON'T  you  want  a  boy  ? " 
"What  can  you  do,  my  lad?" 
"I  can  do  as  much  as  any  other  boy  of  my  age — where 
shall  I  hang  my  hat?" 

"Well,  my  boy,  if  you  work  as  quickly  as  you  talk,  we  can  use  you." 

The  boy  was  Edward  C.  Simmons;  the  place,  a  hardware  store  in 
St.  Louis;  the  time,  the  last  day  of  1855. 

The  boy  did  work — worked  so  effectively  that  he  made  St.  Louis 
the  greatest  hardware  centre  on  earth,  doing  more  business  than 
New  York,  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  and  Boston  combined;  worked  so 
successfully  that  his  house  now  sells  three  axes,  two  pocket  knives,  and 
several  saws  every  minute  of  the  year,  supplying  not  only  the  United 
States  with  hardware  and  cutlery  formerly  almost  wholly  imported 
from  Europe,  but  in  peace  times  disposing  annually  of  thousands  of 
dollars'  worth  in  cutlery-manufacturing  Britain,  as  well  as  in  France, 
German}^,  Russia,  the  Orient,  Australia,  South  Africa,  South  America, 
and  other  civilized  and  semi-civilized  parts  of  the  globe;  worked  so 
intelligently  that  before  many  years  passed  he  was  employing  more 
travelling  salesmen  than  any  other  man  in  America;  worked  so  effi- 
ciently that,  to  handle  his  output,  there  was  erected,  at  his  chief 
establishment,  the  greatest  railroad  traffic  station  of  the  kind  ever 
conceived,  capable  of  loading  sixty  cars  at  once. 

The  Bethlehem  Steel  Company  is  not  more  exclusively  the  product 
of  Charles  M.  Schwab's  energy  and  genius,  and  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  is  much  less  the  fruit  of  John  D.  Rockefeller's  individual 
efforts  than  the  Simmons  Hardware  Company  is  the  creation  of  one 
man,  E.  C.  Simmons. 

How  did  he  do  it? 

He  put  himself — his  personality — into  the  nursing  and  developing 
of  the  business.  He  infused  humanness  into  all  his  activities  and  into 
all  his  salesmen.  Among  his  co-workers  he  inspired  love;  among  his 
customers,  something  beyond  respect — affection,  even. 

Then,  too,  he  had  vision  half  a  century  ago,  when  vision  was  rare 
among  American  business  men.  He  was  clear-eyed  enough  to  see 
the  buyer's  side  of  a  transaction  as  well  as  the  seller's,  and  to  grasp 
the  now-commonplace  idea  that  a  satisfied  customer  is  the  best  asset. 
He  was  the  first  to  teach  the  salesman  not  to  let  his  interest  in  a  cus- 

3S2 


E.  C.  SIMMONS 


EDWARD  C.  SIMMONS  353 

tomer  stop  with  the  question,  "How  many  goods  can  I  sell  him?" 
but  to  do  everything  possible  to  contribute  to  that  merchant's  success 
and  prosperity.  Often  Simmons  men  render  invaluable  services  to 
retailers,  especially  those  just  starting  in  business.  He  originated 
the  epigram:  "A  jobber's  first  duty  is  to  help  his  customers  to  pros- 
per," which  has  become  a  recognized  principle  of  trade.  He  could 
foresee  trends  and  tendencies  of  the  future,  and  he  was  optimistic 
enough,  alert  enough,  progressive  enough  to  become  a  pioneer  in 
blazing  the  new  trails  called  for  by  the  never-ceasing  evolution  of 
mankind  and  of  business. 

^  When  I  asked  Mr.  Simmons  who  could  give  me  an  insight  into  his 
early  business  methods — the  laying  of  the  foundation  is  always  the 
part  that  most  interests  me,  since  it  is  usually  the  most  illuminating — 
he  referred  me  to,  whom  do  you  think.'' 

A  man  who  served  in  his  employ  for  many  years,  and  then  became 
one  of  his  most  aggressive  and  successful  competitors ! 

Any  man  who,  near  the  close  of  life's  day,  can  intrust  the  describing 
of  his  character,  his  methods,  and  his  reputation  to  an  old  competitor, 
must  surely  have  a  clear  conscience  and  a  clean  record. 

Mr.  Simmons  has. 

But  don't  jump  at  the  idea  that  in  the  early  days  business  morals 
and  business  practices  were  on  as  high  a  plane  as  they  are  to-day,  or 
that  Mr.  Simmons  was  too  sanctimonious,  too  punctilious,  too  high- 
minded  to  enter  the  rough-and-tumble  of  the  business  fray,  and  play 
the  game  according  to  the  rules  then  in  force. 

He  was  no  mollycoddle.  "Catch-as-catch-can"  was  the  only  motto 
or  mode  business  then  knew.  Truthfulness,  money-back-if-you're- 
not-satisfied,  fair  prices — such  refinements  of  trade  are  modern.  Mr. 
Simmons  did  his  share  in  ushering  them  in  a  generation  ago.  His 
career  covers  both  the  old  and  the  new  era. 

He  was  born  in  Frederick,  Maryland,  on  September  21,  1839,  of 
Philadelphia  ancestors,  and  trekked  to  St.  Louis  when  a  young  lad. 
He  had  a  mania  for  pocket  knives,  and  no  friend  or  acquaintance  had 
one  that  he  had  not  examined  minutely.  So,  when  he  was  turned 
into  the  world,  at  sixteen,  to  look  for  a  job,  it  was  natural  that  he 
should  apply  at  a  store  where  they  sold  knives — that  of  Child,  Pratt  & 
Co. — where  the  colloquy  which  opens  this  article  occurred.  It  was 
the  largest  wholesale  hardware  store  in  St.  Louis,  and  his  first  weeks 
were  devoted  to  taking  all  the  goods  from  the  shelves,  dusting  them, 
and  putting  them  back  again.  His  pay  was  $3  a  week,  or,  to  be  exact, 
he  served  under  a  three-year  agreement,  calling  for  a  salary  of  $150 
the  first  year,  ^200  the  second,  and  $300  the  third.  He  did  the  dusting 
so  thoroughly  that  the  boss  complimented  him,  and  promoted  him 
to  be  an  errand  boy.     Every  opportunity  found  him  familiarizing 


354  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

himself  with  the  stock.  His  love  for  pocket  knives  in  particular,  and 
cutlery  in  general,  had  thus  early  begun  to  pave  the  way  for  the  Sim- 
mons Hardware  Company,  owners  and  operators  of  the  largest  pocket 
knife  factory  in  the  world. 

By  the  time  his  apprenticeship  ended  he  was  able  to  command  a 
better  position  with  another  fir.n,  Wilson,  Levering  &  Waters,  his 
theory  being  that  with  this  smaller  house  he  could  make  his  work 
and  personality  tell  sooner  and  more  effectively.  He  had  not  been 
there  many  weeks  when  this  conservation  occurred: 

"Mr.  Levering,  will  you  please  let  me  carry  the  store  key?"  This 
key,  by  the  way,  was  one  of  the  old-fashioned  sort,  nearly  a  foot  long. 

''What  do  you  want  to  carry  the  key  for?"  demanded  the  boss 
gruffly. 

"Because  the  porter  doesn't  come  down  early  enough.  I  want  to 
do  more  work." 

"What  time  does  the  porter  get  down?" 

"Half-past  seven." 

"What  time  do  you  want  to  get  down?" 

"Half-past  six." 

"Well,  if  you  feel  that  way  about  it,  you  may  carry  the  key — but 
you  will  soon  get  tired  of  it." 

He  didn't.  Young  Simmons  had  already  sensed  Opportunity. 
There  were  no  salesmen  in  those  days  to  go  to  buyers;  buyers  had  to 
go  to  the  sellers.  Nor  were  there  railroads.  The  boats  on  which 
merchants  came  to  town  landed  at  night,  and  the  four  principal 
hotels  in  St.  Louis  were  all  within  three  blocks  of  the  store.  The  wide- 
awake young  clerk,  a  very  early  riser  himself,  had  noticed  that  country 
merchants,  unable  to  sleep  because  of  the  city  noises,  often  got  up 
between  five  and  six  o'clock  and  walked  around  sight-seeing.  Sim- 
mons figured  that  if  he  had  the  store  open,  some  of  them  might  drop 
in — and  the  early  bird  would  catch  the  worm. 

The  very  first  morning  a  Missourian  stopped  to  look  at  a  pile  of 
grindstones  at  the  front  door.  Simmons  went  out  and  greeted  him 
with  an  affable  "Good-morning!"  The  Missourian  was  not  averse  to 
talking,  and  the  enterprising  young  clerk  diplomatically  told  him  how 
this  was  the  first  morning  of  an  experiment  he  had  conceived  and  how 
anxious  he  was  to  make  it  a  success. 

Before  the  porter  or  any  one  else  came  to  start  work,  Wilson, 
Levering  &  Waters  had  sold  a  sizable  bill  of  goods  to  the  Missourian — 
and  they  continued  to  sell  him  regularly  for  many  years. 

The  sign  over  the  door  soon  was  changed  to  read:  "Waters, 
Simmons  &  Company."  From  this  grew  the  Simmons  Hardware 
Company. 

How  the  Simmons  hardware  business,  starting  humbly,  has  been 


EDWARD  C.  SIMMONS  355 

built  up  to  its  present  proportions,  with  buildings  totalling  enough  to 
swallow  up  the  great  Singer  Building  of  New  York,  is  the  main  theme 
of  this  story, 

Mr,  Simmons  early  learned  to  handle  both  hardware  and  human 
hearts.  He  knew  how  to  grapple  both  co-workers  and  customers  to 
his  heart  "with  hooks  of  steel."  It  was  he  who  first  introduced 
travelling  salesmen  in  the  business  and  for  years  he  employed  more 
than  any  other  enterprise  in  the  country — he  now  has  over  500, 
How  he  has  taught  those  salesmen;  how  he  has  fathered  them,  en- 
thused them,  developed  them,  and  rewarded  them,  reflects  his  character 
and  his  genius. 

He  was  and  is  an  Optimist — with  a  capital  O.  He  continually 
writes  and  sends  out  letters  of  encouragement  and  every  week  sends 
out  a  long  personal  chat  to  the  whole  force — the  Simmons  weekly 
letter  was  in  reality  the  first  "house  magazine"  in  our  annals.  It 
breathes  optimism;  it  sparkles  with  wit  and  wisdom;  it  provides 
"small  talk"  for  salesmen  to  use  when  meeting  buyers;  it  supplies 
selling  arguments;  it  gives  the  men  helpful  advice  on  life  and  morals 
without  ever  savouring  of  goody-goodyism;  it  is  never  a  cold  business 
document,  but  a  delightful  letter  from  home,  a  welcome,  cheering 
message  from  a  large-hearted  father  who  is  seeking  to  aid  his  sons  in 
making  their  way  in  the  world, 

"How  we  used  to  look  forward  to  that  weekly  letter,"  one  of  the 
veteran  ex-salesmen  told  me.  "It  did  more  than  Mr.  Simmons  can 
ever  know  to  keep  some  of  us  straight  when  we  were  away  from  home 
for  six  months  or  even  a  year  at  a  stretch,  A  lot  of  us  stopped  drink- 
ing because  of  his  advice  to  us.  He  also  taught  us  that  trickiness 
wouldn't  last,  and  that  honesty  would  win  out  every  time, 

"He  stimulated  us  w^onderfully.  After  the  1873  panic,  trade  went 
to  pieces.  We  salesmen  were  disheartened;  we  felt  like  giving  up 
trying  to  do  business,  I  well  remember  how  Mr.  Simmons,  in  his 
letters,  related  to  us  the  old  story  of  the  two  frogs  that  fell  into  a  basin 
of  milk  and  couldn't  climb  out,  and  how  one  gave  up  trying  and  was 
drowned,  but  the  other  kept  on  kicking  and  trying  until  its  efforts 
churned  the  milk  into  butter  and  enabled  it  to  jump  up  without  any 
more  difficulty!     That  put  heart  into  every  one  of  us, 

"Every  Christmas  he  had  us  all  at  dinner  at  his  home — there  were 
nearer  fifty  than  500  of  us  then — and  this  also  helped  to  bind  us 
close  to  him.  He  never  did  the  'boss'  act;  he  was  just  one  of  us,  our 
elder  brother,  anxious  to  help  us  to  get  on." 

His  salesmen  keep  Mr.  Simmons  informed  of  what  is  going  on  among 
customers.  A  death  has  always  brought  from  him  a  letter  that  was 
not  a  formality,  but  a  genuine  message  straight  from  the  heart,  Mr. 
Simmons  being  one  of  the  best  of  letter-writers.     He  has  always  found 


356  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

time  for  acts  of  thoughtfulness,  largely  because  he  has  been,  as  he 
says,  "an  early  riser,"  a  pointer  that  he  would  pass  on  with  cordial 
endorsement  to  all  who  aspire  to  success  in  any  field. 

In  former  times,  when  it  was  the  custom  of  merchants  to  go  to 
St.  Louis  regularly  to  buy  their  season's  supplies,  Mr.  Simmons  per- 
sonally welcomed  them  to  the  Simmons  Hardware  Company,  and 
always  showed  them  appropriate  kindnesses.  His  desk  was  kept 
full  of  acceptable  little  gifts,  often  novelties  brought  from  Paris  and 
other  European  cities.  On  rising  to  go,  a  visitor  was  often  handed  a 
souvenir — and  on  opening  it  when  he  got  home  would  be  astounded 
to  find  his  name  engraved  on  it.  Mr.  Simmons  had  quietly  written 
the  visitor's  name  on  a  slip  of  paper,  with  other  necessary  instructions, 
and  the  work  was  done  while  the  conversation  was  going  on.  That 
never  failed  to  make  a  hit.  To  this  day  he  spends  much  thought  on 
the  art  of  how  best  to  entertain  visiting  merchants;  he  knows  the  likes, 
the  tastes,  and  the  interests  of  most  of  them,  and  he  sees  to  itthattheir 
stay  is  made  congenial,  helpful,  and  in  a  sense,  educative.  They  en- 
joy "a  feast  of  reason  and  a  flow  of  soul"  rather  than  the  kind  of 
feasts  and  flows  buyers  are  too  often  treated  to.  He  is,  incidentally,  a 
good  listener. 

Profit  sharing  was  introduced,  too,  by  Mr.  Simmons  long  before  it 
was  thought  of  by  others.  Every  salesman  brought  his  record  to 
him  at  the  end  of  each  year,  and  a  generous  percentage  of  the  total 
sales  was  awarded  him.  Every  salesman's  record  is  carefully  gone 
over  at  the  end  of  the  year  with  a  view  to  finding  in  his  results  some- 
thing to  warrant  extra  compensation,  "Velvet,"  as  the  salesmen  call 
it.  "My  Velvet  w-as  nearly  as  much  as  my  salary  for  the  first  year 
on  the  road,"  one  old  employee  confided  to  me.  "I  was  flabbergasted 
— but  more  than  ever  determined  to  deserve  the  Chief's  generosity." 

To  facilitate  his  profit-sharing  system,  Mr.  Simmons  incorporated 
his  business  in  1874.  It  was  the  first  mercantile  firm  in  the  United 
States  to  incorporate.  Employees  were  given  opportunity  to  acquire 
stock  and  this  proved  extraordinarily  profitable.  The  original  capital 
of  ^200,000  was  increased  to  ^4,500,000,  and  later  to  $6,000,000, 
wholly  from  earnings — a  record  which  even  the  strongest  bank  in 
the  country  might  envy. 

Mr.  Simmons's  solicitude  for  the  welfare  of  his  men  and  his  cus- 
tomers also  led  him  to  become  a  pioneer  in  another  direction.  He  was 
the  first  to  develop  the  system  of  having  travelling  salesmen  live  in 
their  territory,  settle  there,  and  become  a  part  of  the  community,  in- 
stead of  spending  year  after  year  as  nomads.  Merchants  had  more 
confidence  in  dealing  with  a  fellow-citizen  than  with  a  salesman  whom 
they  could  not  know  well  and  who  was  there  to-day  and  gone  to- 
morrow. 


EDWARD  C.  SIMMONS  357 

From  this  evolved  the  Simmons  system  of  to-day,  the  most  elabo- 
rate and  efficient  ever  devised,  of  dividing  the  whole  country  into  dis- 
tricts, and  having  in  each  of  them  resident  salesmen  acquainted 
intimately  with  conditions.  At  headquarters  is  a  sales  manager  for 
each  district,  a  man  who  knows  the  needs  of  the  merchants  in  his 
section  and  who  speaks  their  language.  He  is  there  ready  to  extend 
them  a  personal  welcome  when  they  come  to  market  and  to  take  care 
of  their  orders  which  come  in  by  mail. 

So  familiar  are  the  Simmons  salesmen  with  agricultural,  industrial, 
and  social  conditions  in  their  territory  that  their  periodic  reports  on 
crops,  trade,  political  trends,  etc.,  when  summarized,  give  the  very 
best  cue  obtainable  anywhere  of  just  what  is  what  throughout  the 
countrjT^, 

In  the  office  of  the  president  in  St.  Louis  hangs  a  huge  map  of  the 
United  States,  dotted  with  coloured  disks;  in  the  centre  of  each 
is  the  photograph  of  the  salesman,  the  position  of  the  disk  indicating 
where  the  salesman  istravelling,  the  colour  of  the  diskindicatingwhich 
one  of  the  Simmons  houses  he  travels  from,  and  an  arrow  back  of  the 
disk  indicates  by  its  colour  and  direction  what  that  salesman  is 
accomplishing  by  comparison  with  his  previous  record.  This  map 
thus  tells  the  whole  story  at  a  glance.  System  has  been  developed 
by  this  organization  to  the  nth  power. 

Initiative  is  persistently  encouraged.  The  founder  often  allowed 
men  to  try  out  ideas  which  he  himself  didn't  think  would  work.  "I 
don't  quite  agree  with  you,  but  go  ahead;  you  may  be  right  and  I 
wrong,"  he  would  tell  them  and  would  then  loyally  cooperate  to 
make  the  innovation  a  success.  And  he  never  failed  to  pay  well  for 
results. 

Thirty-seven  years  ago  Mr.  Simmons  had  the  courage  to  spend 
$30,000  in  bringing  out  the  first  complete  hardware  catalogue  ever 
compiled,  and  as  a  result  added  $1,000,000  to  his  sales  forthwith. 
Now  the  house  issues  annually  a  catalogue  of  2,500  pages,  22,000 
illustrations,  and  70,000  items,  with  minute  specifications,  descrip- 
tions, and  prices,  so  that  every  retailer  in  the  land  can  provide  his 
patrons  with  any  article  from  the  whole  line  on  short  notice. 

Promptness  is  such  a  fetich  with  Mr.  Simmons  that  he  wants  all 
orders  billed  and  shipped  the  day  they  are  received,  and  to  that  end 
every  available  modern  contrivance  and  device  is  utilized,  from  ma- 
chines for  opening  and  sealing  envelopes  down  to  mechanical  convey- 
ers for  transferring  the  cases  of  merchandise  from  the  packing  room 
to  the  railroad  freight  station  within  the  building.  Indeed,  it  was 
primarily  to  insure  expeditious  deliveries,  and  thus  enable  their 
customers  to  compete  successfully  with  the  mail  order  houses,  that 
the  Simmons  Hardware  Company  established  complete  wholesale 


358  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

houses,  similar  to  that  in  St.  Louis,  in  such  distributing  centres  as 
Philadelphia,  Minneapolis,  Sioux  City,  Toledo,  and  Wichita. 

Finding  that  he  could  not  buy  certain  goods  of  the  high  quality  he 
desired,  Mr.  Simmons,  in  1870,  inaugurated  the  idea  of  manufacturing 
a  complete  line  of  tools  of  the  highest  quality,  all  under  one  brand, 
adopting  as  his  trade-mark,  "Keen  Kutter,"  now  known  over  the 
whole  earth. 

Before  then  there  was  much  flim-flamming  in  the  hardware  business, 
articles  of  inferior  quality  being  more  common  than  those  of  merit. 
The  step  Mr.  Simmons  then  took  was  epochal;  it  led  to  the  revolution- 
izing of  the  whole  trade  and  instilled  confidence  in  honest  merchan- 
dising. 

A  manufacturer  offered  Mr.  Simmons  axes  which  were  not  of  top- 
notch  quality,  but  objections  were  met  with  the  curt  reply:  "You'll 
have  to  buy  them;  you  can't  get  anything  else."  Mr.  Simmons  didn't 
relish  being  cornered.  He  had,  and  has,  a  habit  of  doing  much  of  his 
thinking  in  bed. 

"That  night,"  he  relates,  "I  got  out  of  bed,  whittled  a  nice  model 
axe-head  out  of  wood,  and  wrote  on  it  in  pencil:  *E.  C.  Simmons 
Keen  Kutter.'  That  was  the  origin  of  our  trade-mark  and  our  quality 
policy — the  ideas  on  which  our  house  has  been  built." 

The  registered  motto,  as  most  of  us  now  know,  is:  "The  Recollec- 
tion of  Quality  Remains  Long  After  the  Price  Is  Forgotten."  It 
took  courage  and  unflagging  determination  to  introduce  such  a  high- 
grade  and  necessarily  higher-priced  line  of  goods,  but  Mr.  Simmons 
won  out.  "Wisdom  is  justified  of  her  children,"  as  he  sometimes 
remarks.     He  decided  to  build  on  a  rock,  not  on  sand. 

I  had  hoped  to  give  many  of  Mr.  Simmons's  business  epigrams  and 
mottoes,  since  they  throw  light  on  his  successful  methods.  There  is 
space  for  only  a  few: 

"Business  is  the  execution  of  ideas." 

"Promptness  is  the  essence  of  all  good  business." 

"The  difference  between  failure  and  success  is  doing  a  thing  nearly 
right  and  doing  it  exactly  right." 

"Concentration  means  strength.  Scatteration  means  weakness. 
Having  chosen  one  line  of  work  or  business,  stick  to  it." 

"Spend  fifteen  minutes  every  night  recounting  your  day's  doings 
and  planning  to  do  better  next  morning." 

"Always  put  yourself  in  your  customer's  place." 

"An  ounce  of  industry  is  worth  a  pound  of  brains." 

"Character  is  the  decisive  force  in  business." 

"My  favourite  pleasure  has  been  to  take  hold  of  a  poor  salesman 
and  make  him  a  *  Cracker- Jack, '  a  'Star.'" 

"I  am  a  great  believer  in  the  businessphilosophy  of  encouragement." 


EDWARD  C.  SIMMONS  359 

"Settle  claims  promptly.  The  merchant  who  does  not  permit 
himself  to  be  imposed  upon  occasionally  will  never  get  far." 

"If  any  of  your  men,  or  any  customer,  gets  into  a  hole,  always  leave 
him  a  loophole  to  get  out  easily." 

"Quality  of  goods,  confidence  in  your  business  and  in  yourself, 
ability  and  readiness  to  anticipate  conditions  and  to  adapt  yourself 
to  them — these  are  some  of  the  essentials  of  business  success." 

Most  of  our  self-made  men  who  have  sons  following  them  in  the 
business  remain  as  head  of  their  business  as  long  as  they  are  physi- 
cally and  mentally  able  to  do  it.  Not  so  v/ith  E.  C.  Simmons,  who 
retired  from  the  active  management  of  his  great  organization  in  1897, 
handing  it  over  to  his  three  capable  sons — ^Wallace  D.  Simmons, 
who  succeeded  him  as  president,  Edward  H.  Simmons  and  George 
W.  Simmons,  vice-presidents — while  he  was  yet  in  his  prime  and  able 
to  give  them  his  advice  and  cooperation.  However,  he  is  still  very 
much  "on  the  job,"  in  an  advisory  capacity,  for,  as  he  recently  re- 
marked: 

"I  love  to  work  and  I  work  because  I  love  it,  and  because  it  gives 
me  an  opportunity  to  teach  others  to  learn  quickly  what  it  has  taken 
me  sixty  years  to  learn." 

Edward  C.  Simmons  started,  and  his  sons  are  still  building,  a  monu- 
ment to  him  which  has  done  and  is  doing  much  for  the  country  and 
its  development.  While  the  cost  of  living  has  soared,  the  cost  of 
hardware  within  his  time  has  been  greatly  reduced.  He  has  done 
more  than  any  other  living  man  to  bring  this  about,  thus  benefiting 
all  the  people  and  particularly  thousands  of  his  friends  among  the 
retail  hardware  merchants  who  look  upon  his  counsel  and  advice  as 
upon  a  guiding  star. 

They  are  using  daily  in  the  conduct  of  their  business  the  principles 
which  he  has  taught  them  as  well  as  the  facilities  which  he  has  created 
for  the  better  and  more  economical  handling  of  a  complicated  line 
of  goods,  the  benefit  of  it  all  inuring,  of  course,  to  the  ultimate  users 
of  them,  including  the  ordinary  householder. 

His  love  of  humanity  and  desire  to  help  others  he  has  put  into  prac- 
tical form  and  we  are  all  benefiting  by  it  in  our  daily  life. 


JAMES  SPEYER 

THE  toastmaster  was  presenting  James  Speyer,  the  international 
banker  and  public-spirited  citizen  of  New  York.  He  dwelt 
upon  the  courageous  part  played  by  the  firm  of  Speyer  & 
Company,  their  European  houses,  and  the  young  financier  in  supply- 
ing Collis  P.  Huntington  with  many  millions  of  dollars  to  fructify 
our  Western  Empire  by  traversing  it  with  the  daring  Central  Pacific 
and  Southern  Pacific  railroads.  He  recalled  how  Speyer  and  his 
associates  had  loosened  European  purse-strings  and  poured  capital 
into  the  development  of  this  youthful  country.  He  commented  upon 
the  Speyers'  century-old  reputation  for  protecting  clients.  He  eulo- 
gized Mr.  Speyer's  civic  and  public  welfare  activities,  and  finished 
with  an  eloquent  peroration  on  Mr.  Speyer's  innate  democracy  and 
human  sympathy. 

"Your  toastmaster,  though  he  gave  me  far  more  credit  than  I 
deserve,  forgot  to  mention  the  wisest  thing  I  ever  did,"  Mr.  Speyer, 
on  rising,  protested. 

Everybody  stared.  Most  of  them  thought  the  introduction  had 
covered  the  ground  fairly  well. 

"The  wisest  thing  I  ever  did,"  Mr.  Speyer  resumed  with  a  twinkle, 
"was  to  choose  New  York  for  my  birtliplace." 

Then  Mr.  Speyer  went  on  to  tell  the  story  of  an  American  from  the 
West  travelling  for  the  first  time  in  Europe,  who  was  riding  on  a 
coach  to  Versailles  with  a  number  of  Englishmen  and  who  v/as  so 
anxious  to  let  everybody  know  he  was  an  American  that  he  pulled  an 
American  flag  from  his  pocket  and  spread  it  over  his  knees.  A 
peppery  Englishman  sitting  opposite  became  so  annoyed  that  he 
caustically  remarked,  loud  enough  for  every  one  to  hear:  "Some 
people  seem  to  be  awfully  proud  because  they  happen  to  have  been 
born  in  a  particular  country."  Quick  as  a  flash  the  American  an- 
swered: "I  am  not  particularly  proud  because  I  was  born  in  the 
United  States,  but  I  am  mighty  sorry  for  anybody  that  ain't." 

Concerns  in  this  country  begin  to  boast  of  their  venerable  age  when 
they  reach  the  quarter-century  mark.  The  Speyers  began  to  make 
a  reputation  in  Frankfort-on-Main  generations  ago.  By  the  seven- 
teenth century  one  of  James  Speyer's  great-grandfathers  was  quite 
a  figure,  while  in  the  following  century  history  records  that  the  Im- 
perial Court  Banker  Isaac  Michael  Speyer  was  seized  by  the  French 

360 


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1 

^^^E         ^ 

f 

JAMES  SPEYER 


4^ 


JAMES  SPEYER  361 

as  a  hostage  to  guarantee  the  payment  of  a  war  tax  levied  on  the 
people  of  the  free  city  of  Frankfort-on-Main. 

The  Speyers  caught  the  philanthropic  spirit  before  the  founding  of 
the  American  Republic.  Frankfort  still  has  charitable  establishments 
which  were  named  after  Speyers  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This 
long  record  has  not  been  broken;  recently  members  of  the  Speyer 
family  left  several  million  dollars  for  educational  and  scientific  pur- 
poses. Finance  and  philanthropy  were  thus  bred  in  James  Speyer's 
bones  and  blood. 

"Does  money  insure  happiness?  Is  the  life  of  a  philanthropist  a 
happy  one.""'  I  asked  Mr.  Speyer. 

"Whatever  you  do,  don't  call  me  a  'philanthropist'  or  any  such 
name,"  Mr.  Speyer  replied  vigorously.  'There  are  millions  of  men 
and  v/omen  in  this  country  who  are  doing  just  as  much,  indeed  a 
great  deal  more,  proportionately,  than  we  are,  and  I  am  sure  they  get 
as  much  happiness  and  satisfaction  out  of  it.  One  great — perhaps  the 
greatest — advantage  possessed  by  people  who  have  a  competence 
and  who  have  more  money  than  they  care  to  spend  on  themselves,  is 
that  they  have  the  spare  time  and  money  to  devote  to  other  purposes. 
Whatever  I  may  have  done  in  this  respect  is  largely  due  to  the  in- 
spiration and  example  of  my  wife." 

Mrs.  Speyer,  as  all  the  world  knows,  gives  not  only  money,  but  her- 
self freely  to  worthy  causes.  Her  sympathies  and  activities  go  out, 
not  only  to  children,  to  the  poor,  to  the  unemployed,  and  other  un- 
fortunate human  beings,  but  extend  to  dumb  animals,  for  which,  as 
President  of  the  New  York  Women's  League  for  Animals,  she  was 
instrumental  in  founding  an  Animal  Hospital,  where  many  a  poor 
man  has  had  doctored  the  horse  that  meant  the  main  source  of  his 
family's  bread  and  butter. 

James  Speyer  has  the  most  democratic  ideals  of  any  man  of  heredi- 
tary wealth  I  have  ever  known.  He  abhors  everything  savouring 
of  pretense  and  cant  and  hypocrisy.  His  championship  of  labour  at 
times  has  shocked  some  Wall  Street  magnates.  His  outspoken  atti- 
tude toward  autocratically  inclined,  narrow-minded  leaders  has  often 
elicited  frowns. 

But  events  have  abundantly  justified  the  wisdom  of  his  stand. 
His  convictions  were  born,  not  of  any  cheap  desire  to  pose  as  a  friend 
of  labour,  but  of  deep  insight  and  unusual  foresight;  he  can  understand 
and  gauge  human  nature  better  than  some  of  his  fellows;  his  vision  is 
broad  enough  to  see  both  sides  of  a  question,  and  his  inborn  sense  of 
justice  has  impelled  him  to  come  out  boldly  for  what  he  has  seen  to 
be  right  and  fair.  For  example,  he  urged  the  railroads  not  to  fight 
Federal  supervision  when  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was 
being  formed.     He  favoured  postal  savings  banks  and  also  the  parcel 


362  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

post,  as  he  believed  both  would  benefit  the  whole  country  and  every 
one  in  it. 

In  191 5  he  gave  a  practical  demonstration  of  his  democracy,  of  his 
readiness  to  rub  shoulders  with  all  classes  of  his  fellow-citizens,  by 
doing  military  duty  at  Plattsburg  as  a  plain  trooper — at  the  cost  of 
not  a  little  sweat,  as  the  newspaper  correspondents  were  fond  of 
recording  after  Speyer  returned  at  nightfall  from  some  particularly 
arduous  day's  work.  He  believes  in  universal  military  service  as  a 
great  unifying  force  for  our  citizenship  and  endorses  General  Wood's 
statement  that  "equality  of  opportunity  means  equality  of  obliga- 
tion. 

Mr.  Speyer  does  not  believe  in  American  High  Finance  holding 
itself  in  icy  isolation,  for  in  his  conception  the  banker  is  a  semi-public 
servant.  Nor  does  he  believe  that  publicity,  of  which  he  was  an  early 
and  ardent  advocate,  is  enough.  He  believes,  above  everything  else, 
in  drawing  the  so-called  masses  and  the  so-called  classes  together, 
in  promoting  mutual  understanding  by  mingling  with  one  another, 
getting  to  know  one  another  and  learning  one  another's  point  of  view. 
Almost  every  one  of  his  endeavours  has  been  inspired  by  this  central, 
dominating  idea  of  drawing  together  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  edu- 
cated and  the  uneducated,  foreigners  and  Americans. 

"People  need  to  know  and  understand  one  another  to  be  able  to 
see  correctly  and  sympathize  with  one  another's  conditions  and  aims," 
said  Mr.  Speyer  in  an  address  at  the  University  Settlement.  "A 
famous  Frenchman  has  said  "Tout  comprendre  cest  tout  pardonner" 
meaning  that  to  understand  everything  is  to  forgive  everything. 
When  you  fully  understand  another  person's  mind,  and  the  circum- 
stances and  conditions  that  led  to  the  moulding  of  his  opinions,  you 
are  less  likely  to  condemn  him  than  you  are  to  sympathize  with  his 
feelings,  even  though  you  may  have  to  differ  from  some  of  his  conclu- 
sions.    Strife  is  usually  based  on  misunderstanding." 

New  Yorkers,  especially  New  York  financiers,  have  kept  themselves 
aloof  from  the  people  too  much,  Mr.  Speyer  feels.  He  thinks  that 
railroad  directors,  for  example,  should  make  a  point  of  visiting  the 
territories  covered  by  the  roads.  When  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  direc- 
tors met  in  Baltimore  not  so  long  ago  they  were  entertained  by  promi- 
nent citizens  at  dinner  and,  when  called  upon  to  speak,  Mr.  Speyer 
said,  among  other  things: 

"We  realize  that  we  who  live  in  New  York  are  in  a  sense  provincial 
because  we  do  not  travel  enough  and  do  not  see  enough  for  ourselves 
of  our  country  and  of  the  men  and  women  who  live  in  it.  Unhappily 
there  exists  an  erroneous  impression  about  New  York  and  there  is 
ignorance  among  New  Yorkers  about  other  parts  of  the  country. 
This  can  best  be  dispelled  by  visits  such  as  we  are  paying  you.     With 


JAMES  SPEYER  363 

all  due  modesty  I  feel  that  when  Americans  outside  of  New  York 
know  us  better  by  personal  acquaintance,  they  will  find  we  have  no 
horns  or  hoofs  and  that  even  that  much-maligned  animal,  the  New 
York  banker,  has  very  much  the  same  aspirations,  the  same  heart  and 
feeling  as  every  other  American  has." 

The  Speyer  School,  presented  to  Teachers'  College  in  1902,  was  the 
first  practical  plan  in  this  country  to  link  up  settlement  work  with 
teaching  and  make  the  schoolhouse  the  social  centre  of  its  neighbour- 
hood. The  University  Settlement  Society,  which  Mr.  Speyer  helped 
to  organize  in  1891,  was  the  very  first  settlement  established  here — 
its  aim,  of  course,  was  to  draw  together  different  classes  so  as  to  help 
all.  The  same  idea  underlay  the  organization  of  the  Provident  Loan 
Society  in  1894.  Mr.  Speyer  helped  to  raise  the  first  ^100,000  for  it 
and  is  now  its  president.  This  society  has  a  working  capital  of  over 
$1 1,000,000  and  has  made  loans,  averaging  $33,  to  more  than  5,500,000 
people,  the  total  amount  loaned  reaching  ^185,000,000  since  its 
foundation. 

It  was  Mr.  Speyer  who  founded  the  Roosevelt  exchange  professor- 
ship with  Germany  twelve  years  ago,  also  with  a  view  to  furthering 
international  amity  and  comprehension.  Later  he  provided  funds  to 
maintain  the  American  Institute  in  Berlin  to  act  as  guide,  philosopher, 
and  friend  to  American  students  in  Germany  and  German  students 
in  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Speyer's  active  interest  in  such  organizations  as  the  American 
Museum  of  Safety,  the  National  Civic  Federation  and  the  Economic 
Club  (of  which  he  was  president)  is  prompted  by  the  usefulness  of 
such  bodies  in  drawing  labour  and  capital  closer,  thus  enabling  each 
to  get  a  more  adequate  conception  of  the  other. 

James  Speyer  did  not  find  his  wife  in  the  gilded  halls  of  plutocratic 
aristocracy;  he  married  Ellin  L.  Lowery,  nee  Prince,  of  old  American 
stock,  who  at  that  time  was  conducting  a  tea  room  in  New  York. 
A  niece  of  William  R.  Travis,  the  celebrated  wit,  her  brilliancy,  her 
ready  humour,  and  her  kind  heart  for  all,  v/on  Mr.  Speyer.  Before 
then  she  had,  among  other  social  services,  taken  a  foremost  part  in 
organizing  and  helping  working  girls'  clubs.  For  years  Mrs.  Speyer 
has  been  one  of  the  most  popular  women  in  New  York. 

It  was  the  larger  measure  of  freedom,  the  freer  play  of  democracy, 
and  the  greater  degree  of  opportunity  and  equality  to  be  found  in 
the  United  States  than  in  Germany  which  determined  Mr.  Speyer  to 
return  to  this  republic  and  spend  his  life  here  after  having  been 
brought  up  in  Germany  from  his  third  to  his  twenty-fourth  year. 
The  founder  of  the  Speyer  banking  house  in  the  United  States  was 
Phillip  Speyer,  who  came  to  New  York  in  1837  and  was  later  joined 
by  his  brother  Gustavus  Speyer,  father  of  James  Speyer.     When  the 


364  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

war  between  the  States  broke  out  and  dire  need  arose  for  raising  war 
funds,  Phillip  Speyer  &  Company,  unlike  the  Rothschilds,  enthusias- 
tically threw  in  their  lot  with  the  North  and  rendered  invaluable  ser- 
vice in  opening  up  a  market  in  Europe  for  United  States  Government 
bonds,  a  stroke  which  combined  patriotism  with  great  profit  to  the 
firm  and  to  its  large  following  of  clients  abroad — the  firm  purchased 
bonds  at  as  low  as  thirty-six  cents  on  the  dollar  (allowing  for  the 
depreciated  currency)  which  were  later  redeemed  at  par.  It  was  at 
this  time,  1861,  that  James  Speyer  was  born,  in  New  York  City.  He 
was  educated  in  Frankfort  and  thereafter  received  a  thorough  training 
in  international  banking  in  both  London  and  Paris  as  well  as  in  the 
historic  banking  house  of  the  Speyer  family  in  his  ancestral  town. 

Although  his  parents  had  returned  to  Germany  and  it  was  taken  for 
granted  that  James  would  remain  at  home,  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
he  would  rather  live  under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  as  his  father  had 
been  a  staunch  American  till  his  end.  When  twenty-three  he  set  sail 
for  America,  joined  Speyer  &  Company  in  New  York  and,  soon  became 
its  head. 

He  brought  liis  nerve  with  him.  At  first  New  York's  heavy^'eight 
financiers  took  little  or  no  note  of  the  beardless  youth.  They  regarded 
him  merely  as  a  rich  man's  son,  under  no  necessity  to  work  to  add  to 
his  fortune,  and  unacquainted  with  the  intricacies  of  American  fi- 
nances. The  principal  figures  then  in  the  financial  limelight  were 
J.  P.  Morgan  and  Jay  Gould,  with  James  J.  Hill  and  Collis  P.  Hunting- 
ton, the  great  railroad  builders,  forf;ing  toward  the  front,  although 
the  latter  had  no  general  financial  backing. 

Jay  Gould  was  astonished  one  morning  by  a  visit  from  one  who 
looked  a  mere  boy.  The  visitor,  however,  had  painstakingly  drawn 
up  a  plan  for  the  reorganization  of  the  St.  Louis  &  Southwestern, 
then  in  trouble.  Jay  Gould  controlled  the  junior  securities,  but 
Speyer  &  Company  had  been  selected  as  members  of  a  committee  to 
protect  the  first  mortgage  bonds  held  in  Germany.  The  doughty 
veteran  had  more  respect  for  his  youthful  visitor  before  the  interview 
was  over.  To  make  a  long  story  short,  Speyer's  plan  was  taken  up 
and  finally  adopted,  the  terms,  incidentally,  being  entirely  satisfactory 
to  the  young  banker's  clients. 

Huntington  quickly  recognized  the  young  man's  ability  and  in- 
dustry. The  newcomer  meanwhile  had  concluded  that  Huntington 
personally  and  his  Southern  Pacific  and  Central  Pacific  railroads 
were  well  worthy  of  continued  financial  and  moral  support.  The 
two  men  became  close  friends  and  co-workers.  Millions  of  dollars 
were  brought  by  the  Speyers  not  only  from  Germany,  but  from  their 
Amsterdam  and  London  affiliations,  to  be  poured  into  the  Huntington 
properties  to  put  them  on  a  solid  financial  footing  and  to  meet  their 


JAMES  SPEYER  365 

indebtedness  to  the  Government  in  full,  a  piece  of  financing  that  was 
regarded  as  remarkable  at  that  time.  Union  Pacific  was  then  ap- 
parently trying  to  compromise  its  debt  to  the  U.  S.  Government, 
but  the  Speyers  and  C.  P.  Huntington  were  determined  that  Cen- 
tral Pacific  should  pay  in  full. 

President  McKinley  had  been  placed  by  Congress  at  the  head  of  a 
commission  to  settle  these  railroad  debts,  and  Speyer  assured  him 
that  the  Central  Pacific  would  arrange  a  full  settlement.  So  many 
threads  had  to  be  taken  up  in  America  and  Europe  that  the  agree- 
ment, which  had  to  get  the  formal  signature  of  the  President  by  a 
certain  date,  was  not  ready  until  the  last  moment.  Mr.  Speyer,  the 
instant  everything  was  finished,  started  for  Washington  with  the 
papers — he  was  taking  no  chances  of  a  slip-up.  A  snow  storm  burst 
with  great  fury  while  he  was  on  the  way  and  his  train  was  stalled  for 
what  seemed  to  him  an  eternity.  After  overcoming  considerable 
difficulties,  he  reached  the  capital  in  the  nick  of  time. 

To  his  courage  Mr.  Speyer  linked  judgment.  His  command  of 
foreign  capital  enabled  him  to  do  so  much  for  the  development  of 
American  transportation  facilities  that  Speyer  &  Company  soon  be- 
came recognized  as  one  of  the  three  most  influential  international 
banking  firms  in  the  country. 

"Stand  by  your  clients,"  Mr.  Speyer  had  had  Inculcated  into  him 
as  the  family  motto.  When  B.  &  O.  defaulted  in  1896,  Speyer  & 
Company  introduced  a  new  policy  in  American  banking  by  offering 
to  buy  the  coupons  on  an  issue  they  had  sold,  an  example  since  fol- 
lowed by  other  high-grade  issuing  houses.  In  later  times,  when, 
partly  because  of  hasty  legislation  and  regulation,  misfortune  after 
misfortune  overtook  American  railroads,  driving  one-sixth  of  the 
country's  entire  mileage  into  bankruptcy,  Speyer  &  Company  left 
no  stone  unturned  to  safeguard  the  interests  of  those  who  had  en- 
trusted them  with  investment  funds  and  finally  secured  successful 
results. 

"Jimmy"  Speyer,  as  he  is  called  by  his  friends,  Is  an  optimist.  He 
believes  in  his  fellowmen  and  in  the  future  of  his  country.  At  times 
when  many  of  his  brother-bankers — on  account  of  such  things  as  the 
free  silver  agitation  and  hostile  legislation  and  rulings  against  railroad 
and  other  corporations — were  depressed  and  despairing  of  the  future, 
Mr.  Speyer  remained  confident.  As  president  of  the  Economic  Club, 
in  1912,  in  a  debate  on  "Are  Our  Railroads  Fairly  Treated.?"  he  said: 

"The  American  peoople  love  fair  play  and  want  to  be  fair.  Let 
them  know  all  the  facts,  and  I  am  convinced  we  can  safely  trust  their 
judgment  and  sense  of  honour  to  do  the  right  and  fair  thing  in  the 
end.  They  always  have  done  Jt,  and  they  will  also  do  so  in  this 
case. 


366  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

When  occasion  arose,  he  was  eager  to  do  his  share  in  putting  the 
facts  before  the  public  and  its  representatives. 

For  instance,  when  the  St.  Louis  &  San  Francisco  Railroad  joined 
the  nation-wide  procession  to  the  bankruptcy  court,  Mr.  Speyer  was 
so  bent  upon  receiving  fair  treatment  for  investors  that  he  abandoned 
his  annual  holiday  and  personally  appeared  before  the  Missouri  Rail- 
road Commission  and  fought  for  a  square  deal — fought  so  successfully 
that  his  bondholders  have  emerged  from  the  trouble  unscathed. 
Also,  when  reflections  were  cast  upon  certain  actions  of  Speyer  & 
Company  in  connection  with  the  Rock  Island  case,  Mr.  Speyer  went 
direct  to  Washington,  insisted  on  appearing  before  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  and  disproved  convincingly  all  aspersions 
concerning  his  firm. 

Mr.  Speyer  does  not  look  for,  but  is  not  afraid  of,  a  fight,  no  matter 
how  powerful  his  antagonist,  when  the  interests  of  his  clients  are  at 
stake.  He  holds  that  it  is  most  unwise  for  bankers  or  others  in  a 
position  of  trust  not  to  repudiate  unjust  attacks  even  though  "dig- 
nity" might  sometimes  suggest  remaining  silent.  But  while  he  takes 
his  responsibilities  and  duties  very  seriously,  he  is  noted  for  his  good 
humour  and  for  his  knack  of  overcoming  threatened  deadlocks  or 
squabbles  by  cracking  a  joke  or  dropping  some  pointed  witticism. 

It  is  recorded  that  at  one  very  important  conference  over  a  proposed 
deal,  much  was  being  said  by  the  other  side  regarding  the  desirability 
of  "harmony."  The  terms  outlined,  however,  were  not  favourable  to 
the  interests  of  Speyer's  clients.  So  when  he  was  asked  for  his  opinion 
he  replied  that  he  would  favour  "harmony"  only  after  the  "harm" 
had  been  taken  out  of  it! 

Speyer  &  Company  have  been  and  are  international  bankers  in  the 
fullest  sense  of  the  term.  They  took  a  lead  in  financing  South  Ameri- 
can projects,  both  in  Bolivia  and  Ecuador;  they  provided  the  Mexican 
Government,  when  under  Diaz  and  Limantour,  with  many  millions  of 
dollars  to  build  railroads  in  that  potentially  rich  but  politically  unfor- 
tunate country;  they  financed  the  Philippine  Railway  construction  in 
1906  when  Mr.  Roosevelt  was  President  and  Mr.  Taft  Secretary  of 
War,  and  later  carried  through  the  sale  of  these  railways  to  the  Philip- 
pine Government.  They  also  took  the  first  $35,000,000  loan  to 
establish  the  credit  of  the  new  Republic  of  Cuba. 

It  was  with  capital  raised  by  the  Speyers  that  London's  underground 
railway  system  has  been  revolutionized.  Sir  Edgar  Speyer,  brother 
of  the  American  head  of  the  family,  was  the  financial  power  behind  this 
colossal  undertaking  and  became  chairman  of  the  whole  enterprise. 
When  the  problem  arose  of  finding  a  practical  man  of  sufficient  calibre 
to  handle  so  intricate  and  extensive  a  project,  James  Speyer  cabled 
that  he,  through  one  of  his  Cleveland  friends,  knew  the  right  man. 


JAMES  SPEYER  367 

This  man  was  finally  accepted  by  the  London  directors.  He  was 
none  other  than  Albert  Stanley,  formerly  manager  of  the  Detroit 
Street  Railways  and  subsequently  manager  of  the  New  Jersey  Public 
Service  Corporation,  who  is  now  Sir  Albert  Stanley  and  one  of 
Lloyd  George's  right-hand  aides  as  Minister  of  Commerce  and  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Trade  in  the  British  Cabinet.  Mr.  Speyer  is 
proud  of  this  "find." 

As  in  his  charity  Mr.  Speyer  knows  no  difference  in  race,  creed,  or 
colour,  so  in  politics  he  is  distinctly  non-partisan,  independent.  He 
was  vice-president  and  treasurer  of  the  German-American  Reform 
Union  in  the  Cleveland  campaign  of  1892,  was  a  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce delegate  to  the  Indianapolis  Sound  Money  Conference  in  1898, 
was  a  charter  member  of  the  Citizens'  Union,  was  an  active  member 
of  the  Executive  Committee  of  Seventy  which  routed  Tammany 
Hall,  and  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Education  in  New  York  City 
under  Mayor  Strong. 

For  the  last  twenty  years  he  has  held  no  political  office,  but  has 
preferred  to  devote  much  of  his  time  to  educational  and  other  semi- 
public  work.  At  their  modest  but  beautifully  situated  country  home, 
near  Scarborough-on-the-Hudson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Speyer  frequently 
entertain  groups  of  working  girls,  educational  associations  and  others 
active  in  the  service  of  humanity — Mrs.  Speyer's  interest  in  such 
work  having  been  redoubled  by  her  illuminating  experience  as  chair- 
man of  the  Women's  Section  of  Mayor  Mitchel's  Unemployment 
Committee  in  the  winter  of  1914-1915. 

Speyer  &;  Company  was  the  first  private  banking  house.in  New  York 
to  adopt  a  pension  fund  for  its  employees.  To  get  into  the  Speyer 
office  is  the  ambition  of  half  the  workers  in  the  financial  district — 
especially  in  these  days  of  high  living  cost.  Perhaps  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Speyer  sits  in  the  same  chair  that  was  used  by  his  father  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  his  consideration  for  his  workers!  The  Speyer  build- 
ing, the  first  low  office  building  in  New  York,  is  an  architectural  gem; 
it  is  modelled  after  the  old  Pandolfini  Palace  in  Florence,  designed  by 
Raphael. 

In  the  Speyer  home  on  Fifth  Avenue  are  some  fine  paintings.  But 
there  is  one,  perhaps  the  least  artistic  of  them  all,  which  is  held  in 
special  regard.  It  is  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Speyer  painted,  not  by  a  great 
master,  but  by  an  East  Side  boy  who  was  attending  the  art  class  at 
the  Eldridge  Street  University  Settlement,  and  presented  to  Mr. 
Speyer  in  commemoration  of  the  rounding  out  of  twenty  years' 
service  by  him  on  behalf  of  the  institution  and  its  humble  aspirants 
for  knowledge. 


JAMES  STILLMAN 

MONSIEUR  BONBON",  is  known  by  many  children  in 
Europe,  especially  in  Southern  France.  He  is  the  chil- 
dren's friend.     His  mission  is  to  make  children  happy. 

He  is  an  ardent  motorist.  But  his  enjoyment  in  motoring  is 
greatly  enhanced  by  scattering  joy  among  juvenile  hearts  as  he  rides 
along.  His  car  is  especially  fitted  up  for  this  purpose.  It  has  a 
stand  on  which  is  a  large  basket.  This  is  dally  filled  with  specially 
made  Parisian  bonbons  of  the  purest  quality.  There  is  also  room  for 
other  little  gifts  and  many  of  them. 

When  "Monsieur  Bonbon's"  automobile  is  espied  coming  along 
the  road,  the  village  children  on  the  Riviera  shout  with  glee.  The 
car  stops,  and  Monsieur  Bonbon  lavishes  upon  them  his  good  things 
— "  papillotes,"  the  little  ones  call  the  candy. 

Sometimes  children  in  remote  parts,  to  whom  "Monsieur  Bon- 
bon's" automobile  is  not  familiar,  do  not  understand  when  the 
stranger  stops  and  hands  them  pretty  gifts.  They  cannot  analyze 
the  motives  of  a  stranger  in  lavishing  upon  them  papillotes  and  other 
gifts.     They  receive  a  glimpse,  v.onderingly,  of  a  new  phase  of  life. 

The  cures,  the  school  teachers,  and  the  parents  of  many  hamlets 
know  "Monsieur  Bonbon"  and  seek  occasion  to  express  their  grati- 
tude for  the  sunshine  he  brings  into  so  many  sombre  young  lives. 

"Monsieur  Bonbon"  is  not  a  Frenchman;  he  is  an  American. 
"Monsieur  Bonbon"  is  James  Stillman,  for  years  the  most  powerful 
national  banker  in  America,  the  builder  of  the  City  Bank's  Gibraltar- 
like foundations,  the  cooperator  with  Morgan  in  ushering  in  a  new 
era  of  big  business  and  a  power  second  only  to  Morgan  in  shaping 
the  financial  destinies  of  the  United  States  during  the  last  years  of  the 
nineteenth  and  the  first  decade  of  the  twentieth  century. 

The  American  public  have  never  looked  upon  James  Stillman  as  a 
man  of  sentiment,  as  a  man  given  to  finding  his  chief  delight  in  making 
thousands  of  little  children  happy,  or  even  as  a  man  planning  and 
plodding  mainly  for  patriotic  motives  to  raise  his  bank  and  his  native 
country  to  the  very  forefront  of  the  financial  and  commercial  nations 
of  the  earth.  Mr.  Stillman  has  been  regarded  by  those  not  knowing 
him  personally  as  cold,  austere,  unbending,  uninterested  in  social 
activities,  unnoted  for  philanthropy,  bent  solely  on  money-making. 

But  the  truth  is  I  have  rarely  met  a  man  more  animated  and  moved 

368 


JAMES  STILLMAN 


JAMES  STILLMAN  369 

by  sentiment,  by  a  desire  to  achieve  things  less  for  the  sake  of  his 
own  pocket  than  for  the  upbuilding  of  his  country  and  her  institutions. 
I  know  no  one  who  has  sought  so  assiduously  to  efface  self  and  give 
credit  to  those  about  him. 

Indeed,  the  public's  misconception  of  Mr.  Stillman  has  been  born 
largely  by  this  policy  of  shunning  the  limelight,  of  evading  publicity 
of  every  sort,  and  working  always  unostentatiously,  unspectacularly, 
silently.  That  was  his  policy  all  through  his  active  career  and  he  has 
not  modified  it  since  he  handed  over  the  presidency  of  the  National 
City  Bank  in  1909  to  Frank  A.  Vanderlip,  selected  by  Mr.  Stillman 
as  a  vice-president  several  years  before. 

"Mr.  Stillman  wore  a  shell  during  business  hours,"  declares  one  of 
his  veteran  associates.  "His  austerity,  his  apparent  coldness,  his 
reserve,  his  exclusiveness  then  seemed  necessary.  If  he  had  kept 
open  door  and  open  house  he  would  not  have  had  time  for  the  great 
constructive  work  in  which  he  was  engaged.  The  real  Stillman  was  a 
very  different  being.  He  was  a  delightful  companion.  When  off  the 
business  chain,  he  would  unbend  like  a  schoolboy.  Instead  of  being 
stony-hearted  as  some  of  the  public  imagined,  he  was  continually 
doing  thoughtful  things  for  others.  He  was  always  helping  young 
people,  but  he  did  it  so  quietly  that  nobody  knew  anything  about  it." 

It  seemed  such  a  pity  that  a  man  of  Mr.  Stillman's  extraordinary 
achievements  should  be  content  to  close  his  business  career  without 
affording  the  public  some  adequate  opportunity  of  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  his  real  self  and  his  real  character,  the  heart  that  beats 
beneath  the  shell  which  it  was  considered  necessary  to  wear  for  busi- 
ness purposes. 

When  I  sought  to  persuade  Mr.  Stillman  that  he  ought  to  throw 
off  this  business  mask  and  let  the  public  know  him  as  I  know  him,  he 
replied: 

"I  am  willing  to  let  my  work  speak  for  itself.  I  died,  in  a  business 
sense,  eight  years  ago  and  now  am  no  longer  an  object  of  public  in- 
terest. The  men  to  write  about  are  those  who  are  in  the  thick  of  the 
fight.  I  am  no  longer  an  active  worker;  my  sole  desire  is  to  give  those 
who  are  following  me  the  benefit  of  my  experience  whenever  they 
feel  they  want  my  advice." 

Finally  I  persuaded  Mr.  Stillman  to  talk  a  little. 

"My  conception  of  banking  is  that  a  bank's  resources  should  be 
handled  as  a  general  handles  his  soldiers,"  he  replied  to  my  question- 
ing. "You  must  be  strong  in  reserves.  You  must  be  ready  to  send 
reinforcements  wherever  needed.  You  must  send  your  soldier-dollars 
wherever  they  can  do  most  good. 

"A  bank  is  to  a  country  what  the  heart  is  to  the  body.  It  must 
pump  the  money  through  the  commercial  arteries,  causing  the  whole 


370  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

body  to  function  effectively.  As  the  body  depends  on  the  proper 
working  of  the  heart,  so  the  business  of  a  country  depends  upon  the 
proper  working  of  the  banks. 

"I  do  not  regard  banking  Hghtly.  I  do  not  regard  it  solely  as  a 
mere  means  of  making  money.  I  regard  it  as  something  essential  to 
the  well-being  of  the  people  and  the  prosperity  of  the  country." 

The  great  industrial  developments  of  the  last  quarter  century  and 
the  place  the  United  States  was  destined  to  fill  in  international  finan- 
cial and  commercial  affairs  were  foreseen  by  Mr.  Stillman.  He  in- 
augurated a  new  era  in  banking. 

When  other  important  banks  were  reducing  their  capitals,  President 
Stillman  boldly  increased  the  National  City's  capital,  first  from 
$1,000,000  to  $10,000,000,  in  1900,  and  then  to  $25,000,000  two  years 
later.  Without  big  banks  there  could  be  no  big  business.  Banks 
with  trifling  capitals  were  not  in  keeping  with  billion-dollar  corpora- 
tions. 

Stillman's  daring  action  startled  the  banking  community.  Other 
bankers  could  not  see  that  an  industrial  and  financial  revolution  was 
coming.  Stillman  had  prescience,  vision,  and  judgment  beyond  any 
banking  competitor.  He  discerned  that  gigantic  business  organiza- 
tions demanded  banks  of  commensurate  size.  There  must  be  bank 
pillars  strong  enough  to  support  the  industrial  structure. 

The  Stillman  lead  was,  of  course,  followed  by  others.  Instead  of 
reducing  their  capitals,  first  one  bank  and  then  another  increased 
them. 

Stillman's  master-stroke,  combined  with  his  unmatched  capitalistic 
and  business  connections,  placed  his  institution  far  in  the  forefront. 
Whereas  it  was  not  half  the  size  of  several  other  banks  when  Mr.  Still- 
man took  hold — its  deposits  in  1891  being  only  $12,000,000 — in  two 
years  it  was  the  largest  bank  in  New  York  with  over  $30,000,000 
deposits.  The  1893  panic,  in  common  with  every  other  panic,  sent 
many  depositors  to  the  City  Bank,  for  in  times  of  storm  business  in- 
terests felt  it  would  be  wise  to  have  money  there  rather  than  in  some 
institution  of  less  standing  and  stability.  Mr.  Stillman  had  his  own 
clear-cut,  well-matured  ideas  of  how  a  bank  should  be  conducted. 
One  basic  idea  was  that  a  bank  should,  above  all  else,  be  strong;  that 
it  should  carry,  not  the  minimum  reserve  prescribed  by  law,  but  a 
stock  of  gold  that  would  make  it  impregnable. 

"A  bank  is  nothing  but  a  bundle  of  debts,"  he  used  to  impress  upon 
his  colleagues.  As  soon  as  he  had  time  to  find  himself  in  the  presi- 
dential chair  he  began  filling  the  bank's  vault  with  gold.  When  other 
institutions  were  shipping  gold  to  London  in  1893,  the  City  Bank 
paid  a  premium  to  bring  gold  across  the  Atlantic.  In  one  year  he 
increased  the  institution's  stock  of  the  yellow  metal  from  less  than 


JAMES  STILLMAN  371 

$2,000,000  to  above  $8,000,000.  The  1893  panic,  therefore,  found 
the  City  Bank  strong  as  a  rock.  By  1897  its  deposits  had  reached 
$90,000,000,  a  new  high  record  for  the  United  States, 

Mr.  Stillman  was  developing  into  a  banker-statesman.  Not  con- 
tent to  handle  the  most  important  transactions  of  his  own  country, 
he  cast  his  eyes  abroad.  Why  not  have  the  National  City  Bank 
extend  its  activities  to  other  lands?  Branches  could  not  be  estab- 
lished because  of  the  provisions  of  the  National  Bank  Act,  but  in- 
fluential connections  could  be  made  in  the  important  countries  of  the 
world. 

"What  we  now  see  taking  concrete  shape  was  foreseen  and  planned 
by  Mr.  Stillman  in  the  late  nineties,"  one  of  his  veteran  colleagues 
informed  me.  "He  foresaw  that  this  great  country,  with  its  vast 
resources,  its  matchless  energy,  and  its  unlimited  ambitions,  was 
destined  to  become  one  of  the  greatest  financial  centres  on  the  face  of 
the  earth.  He  saw  that  commerce  was  to  become  more  and  more 
international.  The  foundation  was  then  laid  for  the  enormous  in- 
ternational superstructure  now  being  erected  by  the  City  Bank  and 
its  allied  organizations. 

"He  also  realized  that  the  day  of  huge  combinations  and  corpora- 
tions was  at  hand,  and  that  larger  banks  than  any  then  existing  would 
be  necessary  to  cope  with  the  evolution." 

Hence  Mr.  Stillman's  decision  to  increase  the  bank's  capital  beyond 
anything  previously  conceived.  Hence,  also,  his  policy  of  maintaining 
a  gold  reserve  as  high  as  40  per  cent,  at  times,  despite  protests  that 
the  carrj-ing  of  so  enormous  a  mass  of  idle  money  inordinately  re- 
duced profits  and  dividends,  for  metal  locked  in  a  vault,  instead  of 
increasing  earnings,  was  carried  at  a  loss.  Mr.  Stillman,  however, 
was  building  for  the  future.  His  duty,  as  he  saw  it,  was  to  lay  foun- 
dations whereon  could  be  built  the  structure  he  foresaw.  His  motto 
was  not  "Make  money,"  but  "Build  safely  and  strongly;  look  always 
to  the  future." 

One  of  Wall  Street's  sayings  is,  "Stillman  refused  more  loans  than 
any  other  banker  who  ever  lived."  He  could  conscientiously  refuse 
to  help  other  concerns  to  go  deeper  into  debt  since  he  had  set  an  ad- 
mirable example  by  raising  the  capital  and  surplus  of  his  own  institu- 
tion to  $40,000,000. 

"What  you  need  is  more  capital,  not  more  debts,"  he  told  many  a 
merchant  and  manufacturer  who  wanted  to  over-extend. 

During  his  active  banking  career  Stillman  more  than  upheld  the 
traditions  of  the  old-fashioned  banking  type — not  only  in  his  social 
and  professional  deportment,  but  in  the  matter  of  brain-power,  for 
the  City  Bank  of  to-day  is  largely  a  Vanderlip  lighthouse  built  on 
strong  rocks  carefully  selected  and  cemented  by  Stillman.     In  later 


372  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

years,  however,  Mr.  Stillman  has  mellowed.  Whereas  he  formerly 
inspired  the  respect  of  the  bank's  force,  he  now  has  won  their  affection. 
In  commemoration  of  the  bank's  looth  anniversary,  in  191 2,  he  pre- 
sented the  City  Bank  Club  with  $100,000  and  the  directors  added 
another  $100,000. 

Mr.  Stillman  was  fitted  for  college  with  the  expectation  of  studying 
medicine  and  following  this  as  a  profession,  but  his  father's  serious 
illness  at  the  time  obliged  him  to  abandon  the  career  of  his  choice,  and 
he  thereupon  entered  the  mercantile  office  of  his  father's  agents  in 
New  York  City  and  rapidly  became  acquainted  with  his  business 
affairs.  In  a  very  short  time  he  and  William  Woodward,  the  junior 
partner  in  the  firm,  succeeded  to  the  business.  Before  Mr.  Wood- 
ward's death,  in  1889,  he  and  Mr.  Stillman  had  agreed  to  retire  from 
active  business  in  the  following  year  and  Mr.  Stillman  carried  out 
this  resolution. 

How  Mr.  Stillman  came  to  be  president  of  the  City  Bank  is  in- 
teresting. 

Moses  Taylor,  in  his  day  the  foremost  American  shipowner  and 
commercial  power  in  New  York,  was  president  of  the  National  City 
Bank,  and  he  and  Mr.  Stillman's  father  had  long  been  friends.  The 
Stillman  children  very  often  used  to  hear  the  name  "City  Bank," 
and  it  filled  them  with  wonder.  When  they  wanted  to  play  at  keeping 
a  "City  Bank"  their  father  had  an  ample  assortment  of  toy  City 
Bank  money  made  for  them.  This  money,  which  did  duty  for  many 
juvenile  storekeeping  transactions,  was  withdrawn  from  circulation 
many,  many  years  ago,  but  is  still  held  as  a  reserve  more  precious 
than  gold.  The  tin  box,  marked  "City  Bank,"  with  its  contents,  is 
now  one  of  the  cherished  possessions  of  James  Stillman.  Although 
the  coins  in  it  are  only  worth  their  weight  in  iron,  they  could  not  be 
bought  for  their  weight  in  gold. 

One  of  the  biggest  resolutions  made  by  the  boy  Stillman  was  that 
one  day  when  he  was  a  man  he  would  become  a  director  of  the  City 
Bank.  Not  only  did  he  attain  this  ambition  before  he  was  forty, 
but  when  forty-one  he  was  made  president  of  the  bank. 

Moses  Taylor  had  been  succeeded  by  his  son-in-law,  Percy  R. 
Pyne,  who  soon  found  that  in  James  Stillman  the  bank  had  secured  a 
director  of  rare  ability.  When  Mr.  Pyne's  health  gave  way,  Mr.  Still- 
man was  prevailed  upon  to  take  an  interest  in  the  management  of  the 
bank.  His  fitness  for  this  work  was  so  conspicuous  that,  when  Mr. 
Pyne  died,  the  directors  insisted  that  there  was  only  one  man  to  take 
the  place. 

Mr.  Stillman  had  no  aspirations  to  become  a  money  king.  He 
wanted  rather  to  have  leisure  for  travel,  for  art,  and  for  the  refinements 
and  graces  of  life.     He  wanted  to  have  time  to  live.     As  a  strictly 


JAMES  STILLMAN  373 

business  proposition,  the  presidency  of  the  National  City  Bank  was 
a  small  thing  for  Mr.  Stillman.  He  had  already  had  a  successful 
career  as  a  merchant  and  possessed  ample  wealth. 

But  sentiment  played  its  part.  The  boy  Stillman  loved  to  play 
with  toy  City  Bank  money  and  now  the  institution  needed  some  one 
to  guide  its  destinies  and  handle  its  real  money.  Both  Mr.  Taylor 
and  Mr.  Pyne  had  been  almost  like  a  father  to  him.  So  James  Still- 
man, at  personal  cost  and  inconvenience,  responded  to  sentiment. 

His  handling  of  National  City  Bank  money  has  made  history. 

But  it  has  not  engrossed  his  whole  time  and  attention.  It  is  now 
fashionable  for  bankers  to  be  farmers.  Mr.  Stillman  is  not  a  mush- 
room banker-fanner;  a  full  generation  ago  he  established  a  large  dairy 
farm  and  has  continued  to  run  it  ever  since. 

He  was  also  a  pioneer  in  yachting  in  this  country.  When  some  of 
those  now  most  prominent  in  the  New  York  Yacht  Club  were  still 
in  short  trousers,  Mr.  Stillman  was  vice-commodore  of  the  club,  was 
captaining  speedy  yachts  and  was  handling  them  with  the  skill  of  a 
veteran  "salt."  He  is  now  among  the  senior  members  of  a  number 
of  yacht  clubs. 

When  bicycles  appeared,  Mr.  Stillman  became  a  devotee  of  that 
sport.     Now  he  is  an  equally  enthusiastic  motorist.  ' 

Mr.  Stillman's  name  never  figures  in  society  columns.  Yet  proba- 
bly no  living  American  banker  has  a  larger  circle  of  friends  at  home 
and  abroad.  His  counsel  is  sought  by  prominent  foreigners  more 
often  than  the  public  could  imagine. 

Although  he  now  spends  part  of  each  year  in  Europe,  Mr.  Stillman 
is  intensely  American.  He  is  a  loyal  member  of  the  Society  ot  Cin- 
cinnati, both  his  paternal  and  maternal  ancestors  having  served  as 
officers  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  a  record  of  which  he  is 
proud. 

Since  the  outbreak  of  the  European  war  "Monsieur  Bonbon"  has 
not  forsaken  his  little  French  friends.  Instead  of  bonbons,  he,  in 
cooperation  with  the  French  authorities,  instituted  an  elaborate  plan 
whereby  thousands  of  needy  famihes  have  been  helped  financially. 
In  191 7,  President  Poincare  announced  that  he  had  received  a  check 
from  Mr.  Stillman  for  a  million  francs  ($200,000),  to  be  used  for 
the  relief  of  children  of  members  of  the  Legion  of  Honour  claimed  by 
the  war.  A  little  later  Mr.  Stillman  headed,  with  a  large  check,  a 
movement  to  raise  another  fund  for  the  succour  of  war  victims.  He 
spent  many  months  in  France  during  1917  doing  everything  within 
his  power  to  aid  the  gallant  Republic.  On  returning  to  New  York 
he  said  of  the  French:  "They  will  never  be  beaten.  Such  superb 
gallantry  and  esprit  de  corps  can  never  be  crushed."^ 

"When  you  see  what  is  being  done  in  France,"  said  Mr.  Stillman, 


374  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"you  forget  about  yourself,  you  forget  everything  in  a  consuming 
desire  to  help,  help,  help." 

But  Mr.  Stillman  would  not  be  drawn  into  any  statement  about  his 
activities  as  "Monsieur  Bonbon."  When  I  questioned  him  he  simply 
smiled  and  said: 

"If  I  have  ever  neglecte'd  my  business,  it  has  been  because  of  my 
love  for  children." 

This  is  not  all  Mr.  Stillman  has  done  for  France  and  its  youth. 
Feeling  that  American  architects  had  become  the  best  in  the  world 
for  modern  requirements  largely  through  the  unlimited  opportunities 
afforded  them  to  study  in  Paris,  Mr.  Stillman,  as  a  token  of  American 
appreciation  and  reciprocity,  donated  50x3,000  francs  as  a  fund  for 
annual  prizes  for  French  students  of  architecture  displaying  the  most 
promising  genius.  This  little  international  act  did  not  fail  to  reach 
the  hearts  of  the  French  people.  The  name  "James  Stillman"  has 
been  engraved  on  the  walls  of  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts  to  go  down 
to  future  generations. 

Home  students  have  not  been  forgotten  by  Mr.  Stillman.  Im- 
pressed by  the  fact  that  Harvard  had  no  hospital  accommodation 
for  its  thousands  of  students,  years  ago  he  gave  the  university  an 
adequate  hospital. 

I  asked  Mr.  Stillman  what  his  many-sided  career  and  his  leisure  for 
reflection  had  taught  him  of  the  philosophy  of  life. 

"The  elimination  of  self,"  he  replied,  "is  one  of  the  finest  forms  of 
philosophy  and  one  of  the  greatest  secrets  of  happiness." 


THEODORE  N.  VAIL 


THEODORE  N.  VAIL 

THEODORE  NEWTON  VAIL  Is  the  man  who  has  put  all 
Americans — North,  South,  East,  and  West — on  speaking 
terms. 

It  has  cost  much  brain-sweat,  foresight,  imagination,  enthusiasm, 
courage — and  a  billion  dollars. 

Nearly  forty  years  ago,  when  Alexander  Graham  Bell's  crude  in- 
vention was  but  a  toy.  Vail  conceived  a  picture  of  America  cob- 
webbed  with  telephones,  every  citizen  In  telephonic  communication 
with  every  other  citizen  no  matter  how  remote. 

In  1916  a  great  engineering  association,  instead  of  calling  a  national 
convention  in  one  city,  conducted  its  proceedings  by  telephone  in  a 
score  of  cities  at  once,  a  motion  being  proposed  by  one  city,  seconded 
by  another,  and  adopted  by  all  simultaneously! 

Was  ever  youthful  vision  more  gloriously  fulfilled  ? 

"Compared  with  what  could  have  been  achieved,  very  little  has 
been  achieved,'*  was  Mr.  Vail's  own  comment  when  I  remarked  that 
his  dream  had  come  true.  He  doubtless  had  in  mind  the  govern- 
mental shattering  of  one  scheme  referred  to  later. 

"But  you  have  accomplished  a  lot  more  than  any  other  man  in 
your  line,"  I  argued.  "How  did  you  succeed  in  doing  so  much  more 
than  the  average  man  attains?" 

"By  never  being  unwilling,  when  young,  to  do  another  man's  work, 
and  then,  when  older,  by  never  doing  anything  somebody  else  could 
do  better  for  me.  I  was  always  fond  enough  of  detail  to  master  thor- 
oughly what  I  was  undertaking — and  then  hated  detail  enough  not 
to  bother  with  it  when  I  got  to  the  treatment  of  the  general  subject." 

The  United  States  has  twice  as  many  telephones  as  all  the  rest  of 
the  world.  Our  farmers  alone  have  more  than  the  entire  population 
of  England,  France,  or  Germany. 

Just  what  is  the  extent  of  the  telephone  business  In  this  country? 

To-day  there  are  some  10,000,000  Bell  telephones  in  the  United 
States,  or,  roughly,  one  for  every  two  families  throughout  the  length 
and  breadth  of  the  land. 

Between  26,000,000  and  27,000,000  telephone  talks  are  held  every 
day,  or  at  the  rate  of  9,000,000,000 — nine  billion — a  year. 

The  "American  Tel.  &  Tel."  has  some  19,000,000  miles  of  wire, 
enough  to  stretch  from  the  earth  to  the  moon  eighty  times,  enough 

375 


376  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

to  circle  the  earth  760  times,  enough  to  string  5,500  wires  between 
New  York  and  San  Francisco. 

It  has  assets  of  over  $1,000,000,000,  making  it  one  of  America's 
two  "bilHon-dollar"  industrial  corporations. 

Its  receipts  pour  in  at  the  rate  of  $5,000,000  every  week. 

It  pays  dividends  of  well  over  half  a  million  dollars  weekly  to 
over  100,000  stockholders,  of  whom  one-third  are  Bell  employees  and 
one-half  are  women. 

It  has  more  than  150,000  employees  and,  with  growing  business,  is 
swelling  the  number  by  one  thousand  a  month. 

The  story  of  how  Theodore  N.  Vail  came  to  "enter  into  partner- 
ship with  electricity"  is  inspiring  to  young  America. 

A  father  of  Quaker  descent  and  a  mother  of  Dutch  descent,  both 
born  in  New  Jersey,  for  generations  the  home  of  their  ancestors,  were 
temporarily  residing  in  Carroll  County,  Ohio,  when  (July  16,  1845) 
a  son  was  born  to  them.  They  called  him  Theodore  Newton,  his 
last  name  being  Vail.  Two  years  later  they  moved  to  their  native 
state  and  lived  there  until  1866,  when  they  settled  in  Iowa.  Before 
leaving  New  Jersey  the  boy  Vail  had  studied  medicine  with  an  uncle. 
After  opening  the  farm  in  Iowa  he  left  it  to  his  brothers  and  followed 
Horace  Greeley's  "Go  West,  young  man"  advice.  He  wanted  a  bit 
of  adventure  and  world  knowledge.  He  had  not  as  yet  settled  down 
to  the  hard  realities  of  life. 

While  in  Morristown,  N.  J.,  he  had  picked  up  telegraphy,  an  uncle, 
Alfred  Vail,  having  been  associated  with  and  having  financed  F.  S.  B. 
Morse  in  the  practical  and  mechanical  development  of  the  telegraph. 
The  Union  Pacific  gave  young  Vail  a  start  as  agent  and  operator  at 
a  box-car  station. 

Before  long  he  entered  the  railway  mail  service.  It  was  not  much 
of  a  "service"  in  those  days.  There  was  no  real  sorting  system  on 
the  trains,  no  attempt  to  route  letters  direct  to  any  but  the  larger 
cities,  no  schedule  for  making  advantageous  train  connections. 
Sacks  were  dumped  out  unceremoniously  here,  there,  and  every- 
where. 

Vail  set  himself  to  devising  a  better  system.  He  collected  every 
time-table  fact,  studied  every  railroad  connection,  figured  out  the 
quickest  routes  to  reach  each  place  from  every  other  place,  and  com- 
piled a  sort  of  railway  mail  guide.  This  enabled  him  to  handle  mail 
with  a  celerity  never  before  known. 

Incidents  illumine  characters  and  careers.  A  snowslide  once 
blocked  the  line,  and  train  after  train  had  to  pull  up  on  either  side. 
The  order  was  given  to  transfer  all  passengers,  baggage,  and  mail 
from  one  side  of  the  barrier  to  the  other,  so  that  the  trains  could 
return,  thus,  in  effect,  overcoming  the  blockade.     There  were  hun- 


THEODORE  N.  VAIL  377 

dreds  of  mail  sacks  to  pull  or  carry  over  the  snow.  It  was  technically 
the  railroad  men's  duty  to  do  the  work.  But  they  had  their  hands 
more  than  full.  Vail  suggested  that  the  thirty  or  more  mail  clerks 
should  get  busy.  They  refused;  it  wasn't  their  job  to  tussle  with 
cold,  icy  sacks  over  snow-piles.  Vail  started  in  and,  with  two  or 
three  willing  helpers,  did  the  whole  work. 

Washington  spotted  the  young  reformer.  If  he  could  so  reorganize 
his  local  mail  delivery,  why  couldn't  he  do  as  much  for  other  parts 
of  the  country.?  To  Washington  he  was  summoned,  as  assistant 
superintendent  of  mail  service,  and  so  valuable  did  his  work  prove 
that,  although  the  youngest  officer  in  the  service,  he  was  shortly  made 
general  superintendent. 

He  recast  the  delivery  service  of  the  whole  country.  His  reforms, 
however,  cut  into  the  revenues  of  certain  railroads  and  the  politicians 
got  on  his  track.  They  wanted  him  to  alter  his  schedules  for  the 
benefit  of  special  interests.  He  told  them  he  was  working,  not  for  the 
railroads,  but  for  the  Government  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  public. 
This  brought  trouble. 

Senator  Beck  of  Kentucky,  a  strong-willed  old  Scot,  had  been  par- 
ticularly insistent  in  trying  to  browbeat  Vail  into  altering  his  plans. 
But  Vail  stood  by  his  guns.  By  and  by  an  attempt  was  made  in 
Congress  to  cut  down  the  troublesome  superintendent's  travelling 
expenses  and  a  bitter  debate  arose.  Much  to  Vail's  surprise.  Senator 
Beck  acknowledged  that  he  had  had  an  encounter  with  the  young 
man,  but  had  found  him  inflexible  in  doing  his  duty — and  he  voted 
in  Vail's  favour,  helping  to  win  the  day. 

Meanwhile,  Inventor  Bell  and  his  chief  sponsor,  Gardiner  G.  Hub- 
bard, his  father-in-law,  were  meeting  the  fate  of  most  pioneers. 
Their  "toy"  had  been  exhibited  at  the  Centennial  Exposition  in 
Philadelphia  and  had  afforded  novel  amusement;  but  when  they 
sought  to  introduce  it  commercially  they  were  ridiculed — the  London 
Times  called  it  "the  latest  American  humbug."  To  make  matters 
worse,  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  then  one  of  the  most 
powerful  organizations  in  the  country,  began  to  fight  them  and 
thwart  them  at  every  turn,  even  going  the  length,  finally,  of  estab- 
lishing a  rival  telephone  enterprise  with  the  aid  of  an  improved  trans- 
mitter invented  by  Edison. 

Hubbard  wanted  a  fighter,  a  man  of  force,  nerve,  and  brains.  He 
knew  Vail,  and  knew  that  Vail  was  the  man  he  wanted. 

"I  gave  up  a  $3,500  salary  for  no  salary,"  Mr.  Vail  dryly  remarked 
later.  As  general  manager  of  the  American  Bell  Telephone  Company 
he  was  to  get  $5,000  when  he  could  collect  it — zvhick  ivas  seldom  ! 

Vail,  an  expert  telegrapher,  had  unbounded  faith  in  the  telephone. 
He  knew  it  could  not  only  be  used  for  local  purposes,  but  that  it  would 


378  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

one  day  cover  the  entire  Union.  And  he  at  once  started  working 
toward  that  end. 

He  early  induced  Charlie  Glidden,  of  balloon  fame,  to  build  a  line 
from  Lowell  to  Boston. 

"Let's  build  a  line  from  Boston  to  Providence,"  he  next  suggested 
to  his  company.  They  laughed  at  him.  It  was  a  terrible  struggle, 
but  he  went  ahead. 

The  treasurer's  records  show  such  items  as:  "Lent  Bell  50c; 
lent  Vail  25c." 

Alas!  the  line,  when  finally  completed,  would  not,  at  first,  work! 

"Did  you  become  discouraged.'"'  I  recently  asked  Mr.  Vail,  re- 
ferring to  those  days. 

"If  I  did,"  he  replied  with  a  significant  smile,  "I  never  let  any- 
body know  it." 

Here  is  a  sample  of  the  spirit  and  foresight  then  animating  the 
general  manager  of  the  Bell  Telephone: 

"Tell  our  agents  that  we  have  a  proposition  on  foot  to  connect 
the  different  cities  for  the  purpose  of  personal  communication 
and  in  other  ways  to  organize  a  grand  telephone  system." 

"Real  difficulties  can  be  overcome;  it  is  only  the  imaginary  ones 
that  are  unconquerable,"  he  used  to  admonish  faint-hearted  col- 
leagues. 

A  line  from  Boston  to  New  York  was  Vail's  next  venture.  A  com- 
pany, called  the  Governors'  Company,  was  organized.  It  was  com- 
posed of  five  governors  and  two  laymen,  but  they  became  discouraged 
and  the  company  took  the  line  over.  But  it  proved  a  success  after 
the  public  realized  just  what  the  new  venture  meant  in  the  way  of 
convenience. 

Before  Vail  took  hold  with  his  bulldog  grip,  the  Bell  people,  in 
despair,  had  offered  to  sell  out  to  the  Western  Union  for  $100,000. 
Now  the  Western  Union  were  willing  to  pay  $100,000  a  year  to  get 
rid  of  Vail!  They  pulled  wires  to  have  alluring  positions  offered 
him  by  influential  railroad  companies.  Vail,  however,  fought  on. 
He  stayed  by  the  Bell  Company  until  it  conquered  all  obstacles, 
inspired  confidence  in  itself  and  the  usefulness  of  its  service,  and  could 
command  capital  on  reasonable  terms  to  expand  from  city  to  city. 

In  1887,  having  fought  his  fight  and  won,  he  bought  a  200-acre 
farm  in  northern  Vermont,  where  he  planned  to  live  when  not  en- 
joying travel,  to  which  he  looked  forward. 

His  business  career  was  to  have  ended  then.  But  Mr.  Vail's  life 
was  to  consist  of  three  chapters. 

On  a  tour  through  South  America  he  visited  Buenos  Aires,  was 
struck  with  the   possibilities  of  transforming  its   horse-car  street 


THEODORE  N.  VAIL  379 

railways  into  electric  lines  by  utilizing  water-power  from  newly 
constructed  reservoirs,  bought  a  broken-down  but  strategic  line 
(one  of  a  dozen  then  in  operation),  transformed  it  into  a  road  as 
fine  as  anything  in  the  States,  bought  in  outdistanced  lines  at  his 
own  price,  built  up  an  elaborate  traction  system  with  the  aid  of 
American  and,  later,  British  capital — and  made  money. 

As  a  side  line  he  installed  electric  lighting  and  telephone  systems 
in  various  cities. 

His  activities  took  him  to  Europe  frequently.  At  one  time  he  had 
business  headquarters  in  London,  although  he  contrived  to  spend 
many  months  in  Paris  and  in  Italy,  both  of  which  he  found  fasci- 
nating. 

But  rock-ribbed  Vermont  kept  a-calling  him.  So  he  sold  out  his 
foreign  interests  for  a  handsome  sum  and,  a  second  time,  returned  to 
Speedwell  Farm  (so  named  after  his  maternal  ancestors),  determined 
to  devote  the  remainder  of  his  days  to  scientific  agriculture. 

He  added  to  his  200-acre  farm  until  it  became  6,000  acres  and  con- 
ducted his  farming  with  all  the  zeal  he  had  thrown  into  fighting  the 
Bell  telephone  battles.  He  bred  the  finest  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  pigs, 
and  poultry.  He  went  in  for  the  proper  rotation  of  crops.  He  used 
fertilizers.  In  short,  he  became  a  model  farmer  on  a  huge  scale, 
demonstrating  that  farming  in  the  Green  Mountain  State  could  be 
made  to  pay. 

Of  greater  moment,  he  taught  other  farmers  how  to  get  the  most 
out  of  their  soil.  To  aid  in  this  work,  he  donated  land  to  the  State, 
reorganized  the  Lyndon  Institute  and  organized  the  Lyndon  School 
of  Agriculture,  supervised  their  equipment,  took  a  very  active  part 
in  developing  them,  and  spent  a  large  part  of  his  time  in  furthering 
the  welfare  of  the  pupils  and  their  parents.  The  purpose  was  and  is 
to  make  good  housewives  of  the  girls  and  skilful  farmers  of  the  boys; 
also,  to  stimulate,  by  example,  scientific,  profitable  farming. 

To  this  tranquil,  useful  life,  with  his  wife  and  only  son,  Theodore 
N.  Vail  retired. 

Chapter  III  opened  in  May,  1907. 

Financial  rumblings  were  frightening  bankers  and  business  men  in 
the  spring  of  that  fateful  year.  Capital  was  pulling  into  its  shell, 
scenting  over-expansion  of  credit.  Stocks  and  bonds  crumbled. 
New  securities  could  not  be  sold.  Public  sentiment  was  antagonistic 
to  Big  Business. 

The  American  Telephone  &  Telegraph  Company  was  in  a  worse 
plight  than  most  enterprises.  Less  competent  rivals  had  raised  such 
a  noise  that  State  legislatures  were  considering  harassing  laws,  the 
Courts  were  inimical,  and  the  Federal  Government  was  being  urged 
to  either  "bust"  or  take  over  the  "Telephone  Trust." 


38o  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Where — to  whom — could  the  directors  turn? 

There  was  one  man,  of  course,  who  could  deliver  them  out  of  all 
their  troubles,  but  he  had  retired,  was  past  sixty,  did  not  need  any 
more  money,  and  was  enjoying  the  peaceful  life  of  a  farmer. 

They  looked  around  everywhere.     Nobody  else  was  in  sight. 

In  desperation  a  delegation  of  directors  journeyed  to  Lyndon,  Vt. 
They  found  a  modern  Cincinnatus  engrossed  in  his  spring  plowing. 
They  appealed  to  him  to  come  and  save  the  company  he  had  given 
his  best  years  to  build  up.  The  welfare  of  the  nation  was  likewise 
at  stake,  they  urged. 

The  veteran  telephone  wizard  could  not  bear  the  idea  of  the  great 
system  conceived  and  nurtured  by  him  going  down,  or,  if  it  was  des- 
tined to  go  under,  he  was  prepared  to  go  down  with  it. 

Their  appeal  to  his  loyalty  and  his  patriotism  struck  a  responsive 
chord.  His  life's  companion  had  died  two  years  before  and  his  only 
son,  a  stalwart  Harvard  athlete,  had  been  carried  off  by  typhoid 
a  year  later.  Life  on  the  farm  since  then  had  had  its  lonely 
spells. 

"I'll  come,"  Vail  consented. 

He  straightway  raised  ^2i,cxx),ooo  new  capital — and  raised  a 
quarter  of  a  billion  in  the  next  six  years  with  remarkable  skill.  Through 
his  timely  action  the  corporation  weathered  the  terrible  panic  of 
October-November,  1907,  without  a  tremor. 

He  disarmed  public  and  legislative  antagonisms  by  frankly  coming 
out  for  "one  system"  and  demonstrating  the  uselessness  of  two  or 
more  vital  systems,  by  openly  proclaiming  himself  in  favour  of  regula- 
tion of  all  public  utilities  and  offering  to  cooperate  loyally  with  Public 
Service  Commissions. 

He  mollified  rivals  by  granting  exchange  facilities  to  some,  selling 
Bell  instruments  to  others,  and  offering  to  pay  a  fair  price  to  those 
who  wanted  to  sell  out. 

He  gained  the  enthusiastic  support  of  employees  by  treating  them 
with  increased  generosity  and  by  setting  aside  millions  for  old  age 
pensions,  sickness,  and  accident  benefits. 

He  won  the  encomiums  of  subscribers  by  improving  and  extending 
the  Bell  service  with  a  rapidity  and  on  a  scale  never  before  known. 
His  motto  then  and  always  has  been:  "Build  ahead  of  the  public 
demand.      Lead,  don't  lag." 

Vail  proved  himself  not  merely  the  master  of  intercommunication 
but  a  business  statesman. 

Still  greater  ambitions,  however,  possessed  him.  He  had,  a  gen- 
eration before,  mail-mapped  America.  Now  he  conceived  something 
greater,  something  in  harmony  with  the  spirit  of  the  tv/entieth  cen- 
tury— Speed. 


THEODORE  N.  VAIL  381 

Theodore  N.  Vail  believes  that  most  wars  are  bred  of  misunder- 
standing, and  that  if  nations  and  individuals  learned  to  know  one 
another,  to  understand  one  another,  to  fraternize  with  one  another, 
they  would  lose  all  desire  to  murder  one  another.  His  mission  in 
life  has  been  to  put  people  in  closer  touch,  to  bring  them  together  no 
matter  how  far  separated,  to  annihilate  distance  and  delay. 

The  telephone  had  done  much  toward  this  end,  but  his  genius 
gave  birth  to  a  wider  idea. 

"Twentieth  Century  Limiteds"  and  other  famous  railroad  fliers 
were,  to  his  mind,  too  slow  for  transporting  mails.  They  travelled 
less  than  a  hundred  miles  an  hour;  Vail  favoured  thousands  of  miles 
a  minute. 

Why  not  have  tel-letters?  Why  not  have  all  important  letters 
from  city  to  city  telegraphed  over  the  wires  at  the  cost  of  only  a 
few  postage  stamps? 

As  a  preliminary  step,  Vail  one  day  in  1910  signed  a  ^30,000,000 
check  which  bought  control  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany. Radical  reforms  were  at  once  introduced — cheap  night  letters, 
lower  rates  for  deferred  messages,  cable  tolls  v/ithin  the  reach  of  all, 
telephoned  telegrams,  etc.,  etc. 

Meanwhile,  the  revolutionary  tel-letter  was  being  worked  out. 
But  the  telegraph-telephone  combine  was  held  by  the  Attorney- 
General  of  the  United  States  Government  to  be  contrary  to  the  law, 
and  by  its  dissolution  was  lost  to  America  and  Americans  a  system 
of  communication  that  would  have  revolutionized  letter-writing. 

Briefly,  Mr.  Vail  was  perfecting  plans  to  use  his  vast  network  of 
wires,  alv/ays  idle  at  night,  for  the  telegraphing  of  letters  overnight 
by  a  new,  time-saving  apparatus,  the  receiving  office  to  put  the  tel- 
letter  in  an  envelope  and  drop  it  in  the  mail  so  that  the  local  recipient 
would  have  it  on  his  desk  in  the  morning.  Thus,  New  York  or  near-by 
business  houses  could  either  deliver  tel-letters  to  a  local  Western 
Union-American  Telegraph  office  or  send  them  by  mail  after  business 
hours.  The  letters  would  be  telegraphed  on  to  Chicago,  St.  Louis, 
San  Francisco,  or  elsewhere  overnight  at  the  rate  of  thousands  of 
words  per  hour,  and  re-mailed  at  the  other  end. 

By  eliminating  all  collection  and  delivery  charges — except  the 
two-cent  stamp — and  by  using  wires  which  would  otherwise  be  lying 
"dead,"  the  cost  of  a  tel-letter  would  have  been  almost  nominal. 

And  it  v/ould  have  put  every  city  in  the  United  States  within 
overnight  mailing  distance  of  every  other  city! 

But  the  Department  of  Justice  was  obdurate,  and  thus  was  lost  a 
boon  which  would  have  been  as  great  to  America  as  the  blighting  of 
it  was  a  disappointment  to  its  originator. 

Mr.  Vail,  however,  is  too  much  of  a  philosopher  to  let  anything 


382  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

sour  him — he  drops  epigrammatic  philosophy  with  all  the  readiness 
and  richness  of  the  late  James  J.  Hill, 

"The  most  amazing  thing  about  Vail,"  said  one  of  his  friends, 
"is  that  he  has  all  the  enthusiasm,  imagination,  and  daring  of  a 
man  of  twenty-four  and  can  blend  and  combine  them  with  the  ripe 
experience  of  his  seventy-odd  years.  The  result  is  a  remarkable — 
what  shall  I  say?     The  result  is — well,  Theodore  N.  Vail." 

While  Mr.  Vail  loves  work  he  also  loves  play.  He  rides;  drives  a 
spanking  team  through  Vermont's  mountains  and  valleys;  lives 
partly  on  his  yacht  in  summer.  He  took  part  in  securing  grand 
opera  for  Boston.  And  to  quote  one  of  his  chums,  "He  can  order  a 
dinner  better  than  any  one  I  know," 

"I  have  always  contrived  to  enjoy  life  as  I  went  along,"  admitted 
Mr,  Vail.  One  of  his  axioms  is:  "Make  the  best  of  everything 
rather  than  fret  over  what  you  can't  get."  Another  is:  "Success 
is  measured,  not  by  material  gains,  but  by  doing  work  well  and 
faithfully." 

The  result  is  that  he  is  a  fine  specimen  of  septuagenarian,  his  mas- 
sive forehead  crowned  with  a  rich  crop  of  white  hair,  his  eye  clear 
and  keen,  his  face  often  given  to  smiling. 

New  York  University  signalized  the  esteem  in  which  Mr.  Vail  is 
held  by  conferring  on  him,  in  June,  191 7,  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Commercial  Science. 

He  has  the  satisfying  knowledge  that  he  has  contributed  much  to 
enhancing  the  amenities  of  life  in  America.  His  faith  in  the  future 
is  such  that  he  believes  the  time  is  near  when  it  will  be  possible  to 
speak  from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other  as  easily  as  we  now  speak 
from  house  to  house. 


CORNELTUS  VANDERBTLT 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  HI 

CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  III  could  say  with  the  man  of 
no  illustrious  family  who  was  being  quizzed  as  to  his  fitness 
for  admission  to  a  society  whose  members  prided  themselves 
upon  their  blue  blood:     "Gentlemen,  I  am  an  ancestor." 

This  member  of  the  Vanderbilt  dynasty  is  no  ordinary  rich  man's 
son.  He  has  demonstrated  his  ability  to  stand  on  his  own  feet,  to 
carve  his  own  path  through  life,  to  build  his  own  monument. 

tarly  in  life  he  manifested  self-reliance,  courage,  and  independence 
of  wealth.  He  proved  his  manliness  by  marrying  the  woman  of  his 
choice,  even  at  the  cost  of  his  inheritance.  Instead  of  indulging  in 
the  lazy  life  of  leisure  typical  of  many  gilded  youths,  he  donned 
overalls  and  went  to  work  among  the  grime,  the  heat,  and  the  hurry 
of  railroad  machine  shops,  used  both  his  brains  and  his  hands  to  such 
purpose  that  he  not  only  earned  from  Yale  the  degree  of  Mechanical 
Engineer  in  addition  to  his  A.B.,  but  evolved  inventions  so  valuable 
that  they  were  adopted  by  leading  railroads.  He  became,  too,  a 
volunteer  soldier,  not  of  the  armchair,  fireside  species,  but  a  soldier 
ready  on  every  occasion  to  discharge  his  full  duties  whether  in  the 
armory,  in  manoeuvres,  in  the  field  on  the  Mexican  border,  or,  more 
recently,  in  active  service  in  the  European  war,  at  all  times  sharing  the 
common  lot.  He  is  a  sailor,  also,  and  has  piloted  his  own  craft  across 
the  Atlantic,  into  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  Mediterranean  and 
along  the  coast  of  Europe,  meeting  and  mixing  with  crowned  heads 
and  commoners  alike. 

In  business  his  technical  knowledge,  combined  with  his  industry 
and  his  financial  ability,  enabled  him  early  to  make  his  mark.  To 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  New  York,  in  considerable  measure,  owes  its 
subways,  for  he  undertook  an  exhaustive  investigation  of  under- 
the-ground  transportation  in  London,  Paris,  and  elsewhere  and  then 
joined  forces  with  August  Belmont  in  organizing  the  Interborough 
Rapid  Transit  Company,  of  which  he  is  still  an  influential  director. 

Yet  this  inventor,  engineer,  soldier,  sailor,  financier,  patriot,  and 
millionaire  member  of  a  millionaire  family  is  the  most  unobtrusive, 
self-efFacing  figure  of  the  younger  generation  of  "doers." 

"I  always  had  my  own  workshop  as  a  boy  as  early  as  I  can  re- 
member," was  his  modest  statement  when  I  pressed  him  to  explain 
how  he  came  to  be  an  inventor.     "I  must  have  been  born  with  a 

383 


384  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

liking  for  mechanics,  as  I  constantly  played  and  later  worked  with 
tools  and  machinery.  After  my  graduation  from  Yale  it  was  logical 
for  me  to  take  up  a  post-graduate  course  in  engineering.  In  the 
course  of  my  studies  I  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  in  the  motive-power 
and  engineering  department  of  the  New  York  Central,  trying  to 
acquire  practical  knowledge." 

"Yes,  but  thousands  of  other  young  men  have  studied  engineering 
and  worked  in  machine  shops  without  inventing  anything.  What 
diverted  your  mind  into  this  channel,  what  led  you  to  think  up  new 
devices  and  to  become  an  inventor?"  I  persisted.  Mr.  Vanderbilt 
manifestly  was  discomfited  by  my  cross-questioning.  An  assault  was 
being  made  upon  his  modesty  and  his  reserve. 

"I  had  not  then  taken  on  business  responsibilities  or  interests.  My 
mind  was  occupied  with  engineering  problems  and  my  study  of  them 
led  me,  as  it  would  lead  any  one  else,  to  investigate  whether  improved 
methods  or  appliances  could  not  be  devised." 

"What  was  the  first  patent  you  took  out?"  I  asked. 

"The  first  thing  I  patented  was  a  new  kind  of  tender,  a  cylindrical 
tender  which  saved  weight  and  expense."  Mr.  Vanderbilt  might 
have  added,  but  he  didn't,  that  the  Vanderbilt  road,  the  New  York 
Central,  did  not  show  him  partiality  by  adopting  his  money-sav- 
ing invention;  the  Union  Pacific  and  Southern  Pacific  were  the 
first  important  railroads  to  adopt  the  Vanderbilt  tender  as  stand- 
ard. 

What  heights  Corneims  Vanderbilt  might  have  reached  as  an  in- 
ventor, had  not  a  turn  of  the  wheel  of  fortune  changed  the  course  of 
his  life,  may  only  be  guessed.  At  this  stage  he  was  drawn  into  the 
financial  and  business  arena  by  reason  of  having  acquired  investments 
totalling  millions  in  various  enterprises  which  demanded  his  personal 
supervision. 

As  early  as  when  he  was  attending  St.  Paul's  School  in  New  York, 
Cornelius  Vanderbilt  displayed  individualistic  traits.  He  did  not 
feel  that  his  rank  conferred  on  him  any  little  or  big  privileges  over  the 
other  boys.  Not  only  was  he  essentially  democratic,  but  his  skill  in 
his  workshop,  his  ability  to  fix  up  any  juvenile  possession  that  needed 
repair,  made  him  very  popular.  At  the  same  time,  although  small  in 
stature — even  to-day  he  weighs  less  than  140  pounds — young  Corne- 
lius was  no  mollycoddle,  no  easy  mark,  no  doormat.  He  had  a  will 
of  his  own  and  courage  to  maintain  it.  As  he  grew  a  little  older  his 
mechanical  ingenuity  made  him  something  of  a  hero  in  the  eyes  of  his 
playmates. 

He  entered  college  in  1891  when  seventeen  years  old  and  was 
graduated  from  Yale  in  1895  but  enrolled  in  the  Sheffield  Scientific 
School  as  a  student  of  mechanical  engineering.     Most  of  his  spare 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  III  385 

time  was  spent  in  the  New  York  Central  office,  where  he  worked  as 
intently  as  any  apprentice. 

1  hen  romance  entered  the  young  inventor's  life.  He  became  en- 
gaged to  Miss  Grace  Wilson,  a  young  woman  of  the  highest  character. 
His  father,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  objected,  however,  to  the  choice  of 
his  eldest  son.  The  young  man  revealed  all  the  grit,  determination, 
and  resolution  of  his  noted  namesake,  the  founder  of  the  Vanderbilt 
fortune.  Instead  of  giving  up  his  fiancee  he  elected  rather  to  give  up 
his  inheritance.  His  father,  as  the  phrase  went  at  the  time,  "cut 
him  off  with  a  million,"  leaving  the  rest  of  his  enormous  fortune  to  the 
other  children,  the  largest  share  going  to  Alfred,  the  younger  brother 
of  Cornelius.  Cornelius  went  on  his  way  studying  and  working  and 
inventing.  He  won  his  Ph.B.  in  1898  and  was  graduated  with  the 
M.E.  degree  in  the  following  year.  By  that  time  his  genius  was 
widely  recognized. 

A  re-alignment  of  the  family  fortune  was  btought  about,  and  Cor- 
nelius's holdings  now  demanded  so  much  of  his  time  and  attention 
that  his  career  as  an  inventor  was  sacrificed,  although,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  even  to  this  day  Mr.  Vanderbilt's  office  suggests  the  engineer  and 
inventor  more  than  the  financier.  In  his  very  unpretentious  offices 
in  the  financial  district  are  all  sorts  of  charts  and  plans,  blue-prints 
and  novel  mechanical  paraphernalia.  He  became  in  time  a  director 
of  the  Illinois  Central  R.  R.,  the  Delaware  &  Hudson,  the  Missouri 
Pacific,  the  American  Express  Company,  Lackawanna  Steel  Co., 
National  Park  Bank,  Harriman  National  Bank,  U.  S.  Mortgage  & 
Trust  Co.,  Provident  Loan  Society,  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Co., 
and  a  trustee  of  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Co. 

"Yes,  I  am  a  thorough  believer  in  insurance  and  the  thrift  that  it 
stimulates,"  Mr.  Vanderbilt  told  me. 

It  is  well  known  throughout  the  financial  district  that  Cornelius 
Vanderbilt  is  not  an  ornamental  director.  He  will  not  lend  his  name 
to  any  board  unless  he  means  to  give  its  affairs  serious  and  sustained 
personal  attention.  One  financier  associated  with  him  in  various 
enterprises  remarked  to  me:  "Colonel  Vanderbilt  is  a  director  who 
directs.  He  is  no  dummy.  He  insists  upon  receiving  full  reports  and 
analyzes  them  closely.  When  any  special  committee  is  to  be  elected 
to  do  real  hard  work,  Colonel  Vanderbilt  is  invariably  named  for  it. 
He  is  a  worker." 

You  will  often  notice  the  name  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  on  citizens* 
committees  elected  by  the  Mayor  of  New  York.  It  is  notorious  that 
on  such  committees  half  the  members  do  nothing.  But  Mr.  Vander- 
bilt is  not  of  this  type.  As  chairman  of  the  reception  to  the  Atlantic 
Fleet  in  191 5,  for  example,  he  toiled  day  and  night  to  insure  the  suc- 
cess of  the  various  functions.     He  was  also  chairman  of  the  great 


386  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

reception  to  ex-President  Roosevelt  on  his  return  from  Africa.  Like 
another  scion  of  a  notable  American  family,  Vincent  Astor,  he  is  al- 
ways prepared  to  discharge  his  share  of  civic  responsibilities. 

But  it  is  as  a  volunteer  soldier  that  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  is  best 
known  to  the  public.  No  other  civilian,  of  either  high  or  low  degree, 
has  worked  more  conscientiously  or  more  zealously  than  Colonel 
Vanderbilt  to  arouse  interest  in  strengthening  the  military  position 
of  this  country.  He  is  not  in  the  service  for  glory;  he  has  been  actu- 
ated solely  by  a  desire  to  do  all  within  his  power  to  protect  his  native 
land  from  danger  from  whatever  source.  He  regards  this  as  one  of 
the  cardinal  duties  of  citizenship. 

There  have  been  many  recent  converts  to  "preparedness."  Cor- 
nelius Vanderbilt  is  not  of  this  class.  As  long  ago  as  1901  he  joined 
the  1 2th  New  York  Infantry,  threw  himself  into  the  work  with  charac- 
teristic zeal,  and  rose  to  the  rank  of  captain  after  eight  years'  service. 
Major-General  Roe,  who  then  commanded  the  State  National  Guard, 
appointed  him  an  aide  and  when  General  Roe  was  succeeded  in  191 2 
by  Major-General  O'Ryan  as  commander  of  the  Guard,  Cornelius 
Vanderbilt  was  promoted  to  be  one  of  the  inspector-generals  of  the 
state  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel. 

When  the  President's  call  came  for  Mexican  service,  in  1916,  Colonel 
Vanderbilt  at  once  responded.  To  meet  Federal  regulations  the  rank 
of  all  Guard  staff  officers  was  lowered  a  step,  and  Colonel  Vanderbilt 
then  became  Major  Vanderbilt,  Inspector  of  the  Sixth  Division.  In 
the  field,  under  all  the  discomforts  and  difficulties  that  beset  actual 
service,  on  the  dusty,  scorching  border,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  was  seen 
at  his  best.  He  was  no  kid-glove  soldier.  He  scorned  to  pamper 
himself  by  setting  up  a  menage  beyond  reach  of  unwealthy  comrades. 
When  Kitchener  went  to  South  Africa  to  fight  the  Boers  he  dis- 
covered that  not  a  few  aristocratic  officers  had  pianos  and  all  sorts  of 
paraphernalia  trailed  after  them  so  that  these  Johnnies  could  enjoy 
themselves  thoroughly.  Had  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  been  on  service 
in  Africa  Kitchener  would  have  had  no  occasion  to  reprimand  him  for 
the  amount  of  his  impedimenta. 

It  is  Colonel  Vanderbilt's  creed  that  men  who  voluntarily  devote 
themselves  to  become  capable  defenders  of  the  nation  deserve  well 
at  the  nation's  hands.  When,  therefore,  the  many  thousands  of 
guardsmen  on  duty  on  the  Mexican  border  were  to  lose  their  vote  at 
the  Presidential  election  because  of  their  absence  from  their  home 
states,  he  had  a  test  case  made  of  his  application  for  an  order  per- 
mitting him  to  register — and  won.  This  incident  is  significant  of  his 
whole  conception  of  soldiering  and  citizenship. 

"I  am  a  staunch  believer  in  the  National  Guard.  It  develops  men, 
it  develops  their  character,  it  develops  their  physique,"  he  declared 


CORNELIUS  VANDERBILT  III  387 

very  earnestly  to  me.  "The  countr-"  ought  to  be  prepared  to  defend 
itself." 

By  common  consent,  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  was  made  chairman  of 
the  Mayor's  Committee  on  National 'Defense  organized  in  New 
York  in  191 5,  simultaneously  with  the  creation  of  similar  committees 
throughout  the  countr}'.  At  the  Convention  of  Mayors  and  Mayors' 
Committees  on  National  Defense,  held  at  St.  Louis  in  March,  1916, 
he  made  a  rousing  address. 

"Colonel  Vanderbilt  would  rather  have  faced  a  charge  of  Germans 
than  stand  on  that  platform  to  make  a  speech,"  one  of  his  friends 
assured  me.  "Without  doubt  it  was  the  most  trying  ordeal  of  his 
life,  he  is  so  averse  to  anything  savouring  of  strutting  or  posing  or 
thrusting  himself  into  the  limelight.  Only  his  deep  sense  of  respon- 
sibility and  the  urgency  for  action  impelled  him  to  make  that  public 
address." 

In  his  speech,  "The  Navy,  Our  First  Line  of  Defense,"  he  showed 
his  contempt  for  mere  lip-patriots  by  declaring  with  great  force  that 
"the  nation  cannot  be  preserved  merely  by  displaying  the  American 
flag  over  the  door." 

"The  decision  of  our  forefathers  at  the  first  crisis  created  this 
nation,"  he  said;  "the  decision  of  their  sons  at  the  second  crisis  pre- 
served the  Union  from  internal  disruption,  and  our  decision  in  this 
third  crisis  is  to  determine  whether  this  nation  shall  be  preserved  from 
external  domination. 

"Is  the  American  of  to-day  ready  to  perform  this  duty;  is  he  less 
patriotic,  less  willing  to  sacrifice  than  his  forbears;  has  a  lip-loyalty 
replaced  that  spirit  of  valour  and  devotion  which  gave  us  our  in- 
heritance.? It  sometimes  appears  that  prosperity  and  good  fortune 
have  blunted  our  sense  of  duty  to  our  country,  and  that  we  have  come 
to  expect  favours  from,  rather  than  to  render  service  to,  our  Govern- 
ment. 

"The  War  of  the  Revolution  was  won  only  after  eight  years  of  strife  in 
which  395,000  men  were  enrolled  in  the  American  Army  to  fight  forces 
which  at  no  time  exceeded  one-tenth  of  that  number;  in  the  War  of 
1 81 2  over  500,000  men  were  called  out  to  fight,  generally  unsuccess- 
fully, a  total  force  that  never  equalled  10  per  cent,  of  that  number. 

"It  is  impossible  to  conceive  of  any  better  proof  of  the  incompetence 
of  an  army  of  untrained  citizens  with  no  other  military  qualification 
than  bravery. 

"When  we  realize  that  the  largest  navy  the  world  has  ever  known 
has  only  250,000  men,  it  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  any  navy  this 
country  is  likely  to  have — even  if  as  large  as  the  largest — will  be 
sufficient  in  size  to  corrupt  or  overawe  a  population  of  over  a  hundred 
millions,  or  will  incur  an  expense  large  enough  to  imperil  our  budget. 


388  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"Great  Britain,  though  but  a  few  miles  from  her  enemy,  relies  on 
her  ships,  and  no  foe  as  yet  has  set  foot  upon  her  soil.  Huge  armies 
have  not  saved  Russia  or  France  from  invasion;  Italian  troops  are  in 
Austrian  territory;  France  occupies  part  of  German  Alsace;  in  short, 
armies  have  not  saved  their  countries  from  invasions;  navies  have — 
and  still  do. 

"Whatever  the  final  lessons  may  be,  we  have  not  only  to  build  those 
types  of  vessels  chosen  by  our  possible  enemies,  but  we  should  steadily 
construct  at  least  four  ships  of  each  type  to  their  three. 

"This  is  what  we  should  recommend  to  our  representatives  in  Con- 
gress and  thus  insist  on  a  return  as  soon  as  possible  to  our  position  of 
at  least  second  naval  power.  We  should  also  recommend  a  corres- 
ponding increase  in  the  officers  and  men  to  man  these  vessels. 

"Let  us  realize  and  remember  that  the  nation  cannot  be  preserved 
merely  by  displaying  the  American  flag  over  the  door." 

Announcement  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt's  promotion  in  December, 
1916,  to  the  Colonelcy  of  the  22nd  New  York  Engineers  was  every- 
where hailed  as  a  just  recognition  of  his  fifteen  years'  active  service 
as  a  volunteer  soldier.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  his  military 
career  has  exerted  a  marked  influence  on  other  men  and  boys  in  his 
family  and  to-day  four  Vanderbilts  are  enrolled  in  their  country's 
service.  When,  in  August,  1917,  Colonel  Vanderbilt  rode  through 
New  York  at  the  head  of  his  regiment  on  itsdeparture  for  training  pre- 
paratory to  service  in  Europe,  this  reception  testified  to  his  popularity. 

While  Mr.  Vanderbilt  could  not  be  called  a  politician,  he  has  all 
along  taken  a  rational  interest  in  public  affairs.  He  was  a  delegate 
to  the  Republican  State  Convention  in  Saratoga  in  1900  and  his  cus- 
tomary industry  soon  won  him  the  chairmanship  of  the  delegation. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission  under  Mayor  Low. 

Among  yachtsmen  he  is  regarded  as  a  prince,  and  was  honoured  by 
election  to  the  coveted  office  of  Commodore  of  the  New  York  Yacht 
Club. 

Mrs.  Vanderbilt,  in  her  own  sphere,  is  just  as  active  and  public- 
spirited.  She  has  rendered  yeoman  service  in  Red  Cross  and  in 
Belgian  Relief  work.  The  Vanderbilts  do  a  rational  amount  of 
entertaining,  both  at  their  Newport  cottage  and  at  their  home  in 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York.  Their  society  activities  are  characterized 
by  simplicity  and  commonsense. 

They  have  two  children.  Cornelius  IV  enlisted  as  a  private  when 
the  United  States  declared  war  against  Germany. 

Could  Commodore  Vanderbilt  survey  things  to-day  I  rather  think 
that  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  III  would  be  viewed  by  him  as  a  not  un- 
worthy descendant 

He  is,  indeed,  an  ancestor. 


FRANK  A.VANDERLIP 


FRANK  A.  VANDERLIP 

WHAT  has  been  the  hardest  step  of  all  in  your  career?" 
"To  get  out  of  my  overalls." 
That  was  the  reply  flashed  back  by  the  former  farm 
boy  and  machine-shop  apprentice  who  is  to-day  head  of  the  greatest 
national  bank  in  the  United  States,  head  of  the  American  Interna- 
tional Corporation  which  is  extending  America's  foreign  commercial 
and  financial  ramifications,  head  of  the  International  Banking  Cor- 
poration with  its  branches  in  many  lands,  head  of  the  Midvale  Steel 
&  Ordnance  Co.,  a  director  and  constructive  force  in  leading  railroads, 
and  upbuilder  of  industry. 

The  story  of  Frank  A.  Vanderlip's  rise  from  poverty  and  obscurity 
to  wealth  and  power  is  rich  with  lessons  for  both  young  America  and 
mature  America.  It  is  a  record  of  difficulties  overcome  by  uncon- 
querable perseverance,  of  zeal  and  efficiency  in  every  station  of  life, 
of  fair  dealing  and  foresight. 

"What  lessons  have  your  experiences  taught  you?"  I  recently 
asked  Mr.  Vanderlip. 

"That  power  is  nothing  but  a  responsibility  to  do  the  right  thing. 
Since  nothing  is  ever  settled  until  it  is  settled  right,  no  matter  how 
unlimited  power  a  man  may  have,  unless  he  exercises  it  fairly  and 
justly,  his  actions  will  return  to  plague  him. 

"Also,  in  order  to  succeed,  a  young  man  must  not  only  spend  a 
full  day  at  his  work,  but  must  devote  another  day  learning  what  his 
work  means,  its  relation  to  the  scheme  of  things." 

In  the  past,  history  was  made  by  the  spilling  of  blood.  In  future, 
it  is  to  be  made  largely  by  banking  and  commerce. 

Mr.  Vanderlip  to-day  is  the  most  aggressive  financier  in  America. 
From  his  brain  has  come  the  ^50,000,000  financial  corporation  which 
plans  to  develop  new  fields  for  American  products,  for  American 
capital,  and  for  American  men.  The  transformation  of  the  American 
dollar  from  a  national  to  an  international  instrument  is  in  no  small 
measure  the  work  of  his  institution.  He  is  doing  more  than  any  other 
man  to  make  New  York  an  international  financial  centre  comparable 
with  London.  The  National  City  Bank,  v/ith  its  deposits  of  more 
than  ^600,000,000,  ranks  among  the  six  largest  banks  in  the  world, 
and  does  more  business  in  its  head  office  than  is  done  under  any  other 
non-governmental  banking  roof  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

389 


390  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

That  is  the  Vanderlip  that  the  world  knows. 

There  is  a  Frank  Vanderlip  that  the  world  does  not  know,  one  he 
never  mentions  even  to  intimates.  Perhaps  the  work  of  this  Unknown 
Vanderlip  may  have  had  something  to  do  with  the  success  of  Banker 
Vanderlip.     It  at  least  reveals  why  he  deserved  to  succeed. 

The  Unknown  Vanderlip  is  Vanderlip  the  silent  philanthropist. 

When  a  struggling  reporter  in  Chicago,  supporting  six  dependents, 
he  used  to  rent  a  place  near  his  birthplace  and  send  group  after  group 
of  city  waifs  to  enjoy  a  stay  there  in  the  summer-time.  At  Christ- 
mas, instead  of  "exchanging"  presents,  he  and  his  sister  played 
Santa  Claus  among  the  poor  on  a  scale  that  involved  real  self-sacri- 
fice. 

On  entering  the  Treasury  Department  at  Washington  he  took 
several  of  his  poor  boy  friends  with  him,  found  them  work  and  brought 
them  up  in  his  own  home.  Several  of  them  have  since  made  their 
mark. 

He  has  put  and  is  putting  numbers  of  deserving  young  men 
through  college. 

He  has,  out  of  his  own  pocket,  built  a  model  school  at  a  cost  of 
j5200,ooo  on  his  estate  at  Scarborough-on-the-Hudson  where  scholar- 
ships are  provided  for  children  of  exceptional  ability  who  are  unable 
to  pay  the  low  tuition  fees. 

The  City  Bank's  comprehensive  plan  for  educating  its  employees 
and  for  giving  a  course  of  training  to  selected  students  from  the 
leading  universities,  a  vitally  important  movement,  is  a  growth  of 
this  same  spirit. 

A  friend  told  me  how  he  was  motoring  in  the  White  Mountains 
with  Mr.  Vanderlip  when  they  met  a  poor  barefoot  lad  whose  face 
appealed  to  the  banker.  The  car  was  stopped  and  Mr.  Vanderlip 
chatted  with  the  little  fellow.  "And  Mr.  Vanderlip  spent  the  rest 
of  the  afternoon  cogitating  how  he  could  take  that  barefoot  child 
out  of  his  unpromising  surroundings  and  give  him  a  chance  to  make 
his  way  in  the  world,"  he  added. 

Mr.  Vanderlip  is  one  of  the  increasing  number  of  eminent  business 
leaders  who  are  more  interested  in  making  men  than  in  making  mil- 
lions. 

In  his  youth  Vanderlip  had  to  mould  circumstances  to  his  will. 
He  had  to  burst  the  bonds  of  an  environment  that  was  as  a  strait- 
jacket. 

Of  pioneer  stock,  he  was  born  on  a  large  farm  not  far  from  Aurora, 
111.,  fifty-two  years  ago.  His  father  died  when  Frank,  the  eldest  of 
three  children,  was  only  twelve.  Duties  and  responsibilities  early 
became  his  lot,  for  the  farm  yielded  but  a  scanty  livelihood.  He  had 
an  intense  thirst  for  knowledge  and  read  every  one  of  thfe  few  book? 


FRANK  A.  VANDERLIP  391 

he  could  lay  his  hands  on.  These  included  a  complete  edition  of 
Shakespeare,  the  Arabian  Nights,  and  a  few  old-fashioned  magazines. 

Since  incidents  illumine  careers,  it  was  significant  how  he  spent 
the  first  money  he  earned. 

For  faithfully  acting  as  nursemaid  to  thirty-seven  calves  during  a 
whole  summer  he  was  allowed  to  choose  one  of  them,  and  he  sold  it 
for  twelve  dollars.  In  a  near-by  hamlet  hung  a  poster  announcing 
that  ten  dollars  would  bring  the  New  York  iVeekly  Tribune  for  five 
years  and,  as  a  premium,  a  "Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary." 
The  ten-dollar  bill  was  promptly  dispatched,  and  for  five  years  the 
country  lad  devoured  every  line  appearing  in  the  Tribune. 

At  school  he  was  dux  in  mathematics,  but  a  duflTer  at  spelling. 
When  he  was  sixteen  the  farm,  heavily  mortgaged,  was  sold  and  the 
family  moved  to  Aurora.  On  Frank  the  duty  of  supporting  the 
household  mainly  devolved,  for  the  life  insurance  of  his  father  was 
not  touched  by  his  prudent  mother,  not  even  to  send  him  to  college. 

He  took  a  job  in  a  machine  shop,  and  for  running  a  lathe  ten  hours 
he  received  seventy-five  cents  a  day.  "I  took  this  job,  not  because  it 
was  the  kind  of  work  I  wanted,  but  because  it  was  the  only  job  I 
could  get,"  he  has  since  said. 

He  at  once  began  to  study  his  new  task  and  the  things  related  to 
it.  The  two  things  that  interested  him  most  were  the  new  force 
that  was  beginning  to  create  a  furore  in  the  world — electricity,  and 
drawing.  He  watched  the  draughtsmen  using  mathematics,  and  he 
determined  to  study  advanced  mathematics  and  drawing.  But 
there  were  no  evening  schools  and  no  teachers.  However,  by  paying 
a  man  fifty  cents  an  hour — two-thirds  of  what  he  earned  all  day — 
he  got  lessons  in  descriptive  geometry  and  draughting.  The  family 
purse  sorely  needed  the  fifty  cents,  so  Vanderlip  turned  tutor,  teaching 
algebra  to  other  fellows  in  the  shop. 

His  ambition  spurring  him  on,  the  apprentice  resolved  that,  no 
matter  what  the  cost  in  pinching,  scraping,  and  saving,  he  would  go 
to  college  for  a  year.  He  went  to  the  University  of  Illinois.  Mrs. 
Scroggin,  a  typical  Dickens  character,  boarded  him  for  $2.25  a  week 
• — not,  of  course,  in  Delmonico  style.  His  carefully  kept  cash  book 
shows  that  Vanderlip's  total  expenditures  for  the  student  year  reached 
$265!  By  working  as  a  machinist  on  Saturdays,  he  earned  ^1.50 
each  week;  this  paid  more  than  half  his  board  and  lodging  bill. 

Somewhat  disappointed  because  the  university  could  not  give  him 
a  course  in  electricity  (Cornell  then  having  the  only  class  of  this  kind 
in  the  country),  Vanderlip,  having  successfully  completed  a  course 
in  mechanical  engineering,  returned  home.  He  wrote  to  Edison  for 
a  job  but  received  a  stereotyped  "nothing  doing"  reply— a  disap- 
pointment for  which  Mr.  Vanderlip  has  since  chided  the  inventor. 


392  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Back  to  the  machine  shop  he  had  to  go,  at  $1.35  a  day.  It  was  not 
long  before  the  superintendent  informed  him  that  promotion  to  a 
foremanship  was  in  store.  Instead  of  feeling  elated,  Vanderlip  there 
and  then  made  up  his  mind  that  he  would  not  rest  until  he  became 
something  more  than  a  foreman  in  a  machine  siiop. 

Shorthand  lessons  by  mail,  he  concluded,  might  open  a  door  from 
mechanical  to  mental  occupation.  The  "teacher"  sent  him  from 
Chicago  a  book  and  did  nothing  more  except  to  correct  in  red  ink 
the  mistakes  the  machinist  made.  While  attending  to  his  lathe  the 
gritty  youth  practised  writing  shorthand  characters  with  chalk  on 
flat  pieces  of  iron,  a  picture  that  would  have  delighted  the  heart  of 
old  Samuel  Smiles,  of  "Self  Help"  fame.  His  mother  patiently  read 
to  him  by  the  hour  to  enable  him  to  take  dictation,  and  he  succeeded 
in  mastering  "the  winged  art." 

Depression  came,  and  the  machine  shop  shut  down  temporarily. 
But  Vanderlip  did  not  let  the  grass  grow  under  his  feet;  he  immediately 
applied  for  a  job  with  the  local  daily  paper — "Perhaps  the  poorest 
daily  paper  in  America,"  Mr.  Vanderlip  has  since  called  it.  The 
office  was  at  the  back  of  an  undertaker's;  the  owner  was  the  editor, 
and  Vanderlip  was  made  city  editor,  reporter,  bill  collector,  and  office- 
boy.  His  pay  was  $6  a  week — when  he  could  collect  it  from  sub- 
scribers or  advertisers.  He  learned  to  write  and  also  to  set  type. 
His  salary  was  raised  to  $8,  but  collections  did  not  always  reach  this 
figure  and  on  those  sad  occasions  he  had  to  go  without  pay. 

Joseph  French  Johnson — now  Dean  of  the  School  of  Commerce, 
Accounts  and  Finance,  New  York  University — an  Aurora  boy  who 
had  been  educated  at  home  and  foreign  universities,  while  on  a  visit 
to  his  native  town,  met  Vanderlip,  and,  liking  him,  began  to  direct 
the  young  reporter's  reading  along  economic  lines.  Later  Mr.  John- 
son gave  him  a  job  as  stenographer  with  Scudder's  Investigation 
Agency  in  Chicago,  of  which  Mr.  Johnson  had  charge.  This  organiza- 
tion supplied  brokers,  bankers,  and  others  with  analytical  reports  on 
corporations  and  other  useful  financial  information.  Here  Mr. 
Vanderlip  spent  three  or  four  very  useful  years,  learning  to  analyze 
corporate  accounts,  mortgages,  annual  reports,  and  so  on.  Mr. 
Johnson  having  accepted  the  financial  editorship  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune,  Mr.  Vanderlip  became  his  successor  as  active  head  of  the 
agency. 

Johnson  next  got  Vanderlip  a  job  on  the  Tribune  as  a  reporter. 
In  two  weeks  his  salary  was  raised,  within  a  month  he  was  assisting 
the  city  editor,  and  before  long  was  assistant  financial  editor  and, 
later,  financial  editor.  Here,  at  twenty-five,  Vanderlip  made  his 
mark. 

His  training  as  an  investigator  enabled  him  to  go  to  the  roots  of 


FRANK  A.  VANDERLIP  393 

things  financial.  Charles  T.  Yerkes,  the  traction  overlord,  was 
plundering  the  city  and  Vanderlip  ruthlessly  exposed  one  nefarious 
deal  after  another  until  the  whole  city  became  aroused.  Yerkes 
did  Vanderlip  the  honour  of  calling  him  the  worst  enemy  he  had  ever 
encountered. 

Corporate  publicity,  then  virtually  unknown,  owes  its  growth  in 
no  small  measure  to  the  pioneer  work  of  Vanderlip.  No  reporters 
were  allowed  to  attend  annual  meetings.  The  enterprising  financial 
editor,  however,  conceived  an  original  and  most  effective  idea. 

"If  they  won't  let  me  in  as  a  reporter  they  are  bound  to  let  me  in 
as  a  stockholder,"  he  said  to  himself,  and  forthwith  he  purchased  one 
share  of  stock  in  every  local  corporation.  The  Tribune  regularly 
came  out  with  exclusive  reports  of  these  meetings  and  its  "scoops" 
became  the  talk  of  Chicago.  It  took  the  other  newspapers  a  whole 
year  to  ferret  out  how  it  was  done. 

At  eleven  o'clock  one  night  Vanderlip,  who  had  by  this  time  be- 
come part  owner  of  the  Economist,  was  called  out  of  bed  and  told  to 
hasten  to  the  home  of  Phil.  Armour.  Arriving  there  on  the  run,  he 
found  the  whole  of  financial  Chicago,  the  governors  of  the  Stock 
Exchange,  the  presidents  of  all  the  banks  and  other  institutions,  the 
Moore  Brothers,  Yerkes,  and  other  notables  waiting  to  receive  him. 

The  astonished  financial  writer  was  told  that  Moore  Brothers  had 
failed,  that  the  Diamond  Match  Company  had  gone  under,  that  the 
Stock  Exchange  would  be  closed  next  morning,  and  that  a  financial 
cataclysm  threatened  Chicago.  They  wanted  Vanderlip  to  handle 
the  story. 

"All  right,"  he  replied,  "I'll  do  it  on  one  condition:  that  every  man 
here  pledges  himself  not  to  answer  one  question  from  any  newspaper 
man  to-night."     They  agreed. 

Rushing  to  the  Tribune  office,  Vanderlip  told  the  city  editor  to 
call  up  the  editors  of  all  the  morning  papers  telling  them  that  Van- 
derlip had  an  exclusive  story  of  transcendent  importance  but  would 
give  it  only  on  the  strictest  understanding  that  it  be  printed  exactly 
as  Vanderlip  wrote  it  and  that  he  be  allowed  to  edit  the  headlines. 

Never  had  such  a  proposition  been  made  to  the  newspapers.  How- 
ever, all  but  one  paper  sent  responsible  men  to  get  the  news.  Van- 
derlip lined  them  up  and  pledged  them  to  the  conditions  he  laid  down. 
Later  he  drove  from  office  to  office  and  censored  the  headlines. 

"It  was  the  poorest  newspaper  story  I  ever  wrote,"  Mr.  Vanderlip 
admitted  afterward.  "The  facts  were  told,  but  not  in  a  way  the 
newspapers  would  have  liked  to  tell  them.  The  fact  that  the  Stock 
Exchange  would  not  open  next  morning  was  mentioned  in  an  obscure 
paragraph  near  the  end  of  the  story.  But  it  saved  Chicago  much 
unnecessary  demoralization  and  disaster." 


394  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

When  the  National  Bank  of  Illinois  failed,  Vanderlip  was  again 
called  upon  to  break  the  news. 

Hard  work,  incessant  study,  and  little  or  no  recreation  characterized 
Vanderlip's  life  at  this  stage.  Before  starting  his  day's  newspaper 
work,  at  10:30,  he  attended  morning  classes  in  economics,  financial 
history,  etc.,  at  the  University  of  Chicago.  At  thirty  he  was  still 
going  to  school!  Besides,  he  had  to  do  much  outside  work  to  eke 
out  his  salary,  as  the  burden  of  supporting  the  household  was  on  his 
shoulders — his  grandmother,  his  mother,  two  aunts,  and  little  brother 
and  sister  were  largely  dependent  upon  his  efforts. 

When  Lyman  J.  Gage  was  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  it 
was  not  surprising  that  he  wanted  the  brilliant  and  resourceful  young 
financial  authority  to  accompany  him.  He  went  as  Mr.  Gage's  pri- 
vate secretary,  but  so  valuable  did  he  make  himself  that  in  a  few 
months  he  was  elevated  to  the  position  of  Assistant  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  Mr.  Gage  was  so  disgusted  with  the  torrent  of  applica- 
tions that  poured  in  upon  him  by  mail  and  by  a  constant  stream  of 
political  wirepullers  that  he  turned  the  handling  of  the  whole  ap- 
pointment division  over  to  a  committee  headed  by  Mr.  Vanderlip. 
Before  he  had  time  to  find  his  feet  in  Washington  the  ex-reporter 
found  himself  in  charge  of  the  5,000  employees  forming  the  Treasury 
force.  Instead  of  the  responsibilities  staggering  him,  he  enjoyed 
the  experience,  A  writer  described  the  Vanderlip  of  that  day  as 
"generous,  thoughtful  of  others,  open-minded,  strong-willed,  unpre- 
tentious, just,  and  big-hearted."  He  was,  moreover,  good-natured, 
enthusiastic,  and  optimistic. 

It  was  the  generalship  he  displayed  in  handling  the  $200,000,000 
Spanish  War  loan  in  1898  that  gave  Vanderlip  a  chance  to  win  his 
spurs.  He  had  to  organize  a  special  clerical  staff  and  so  efficiently 
did  he  select  and  train  the  men  and  systematize  the  statistical  work 
that,  although  the  subscriptions  aggregated  $1,400,000,000  and 
numbered  320,000,  he  was  able  to  announce  in  five  and  one-half 
hours  after  the  subscription  closed  within  $400  of  where  the  line 
would  be  drawn  between  those  who  would  get  all  the  bonds  they 
subscribed  for  and  those  who  would  get  nothing.  Over  25,000 
envelopes  were  addressed  in  the  one  day  and  every  unsuccessful 
bidder  received  by  next  morning's  mail  the  check  with  which  he  had 
accompanied  his  bid. 

Vanderlip's  feat  did  not  pass  unnoticed  by  the  nation's  financiers. 
James  Stillman,  the  alert  head  of  the  National  City  Bank,  told  Mr. 
Gage  that  he  would  like  to  get  Vanderlip  as  soon  as  he  was  finished 
at  Washington.  Mr.  Gage  and  his  aide  assumed  that  a  private  secre- 
taryship was  in  Mr.  Stillman's  mind.  But  a  year  later  Mr.  Stillman 
informed  Vanderlip  a  vice-presidency  of  the  bank  awaited  him — a 


FRANK  A.  VANDERLIP  395 

vice-presidency  of  the  greatest  bank  in  the  country  for  a  newspaper 
writer  who  had  never  been  behind  a  bank  window  a  day  in  his  Hfe! 

The  stifFest  test  in  VanderHp's  whole  career  came  when  he  was  in- 
stalled at  the  City  Bank.  Mr.  Stillman  set  him  down  at  an  empty 
desk  on  the  overcrowded  officers'  platform  in  the  old  bank  building. 
He  was  given  nothing  to  do  the  first  day.  The  second  day  also 
brought  no  duties.  The  third  was  equally  barren.  The  fourth 
likewise  found  him  absolutely  idle. 

Here  he  was,  drawing  a  large  salary  and  not  earning  a  penny  of 
it.      He  must  do  something. 

In  his  depression  and  desolation  his  thoughts  turned  to  Washington. 

An  idea  flashed  into  his  mind. 

He  would  make  the  National  City  Bank  the  representative  of  other 
banks  throughout  the  country  in  Government  bond  transactions. 

Vanderlip  knew  more  about  Government  bonds  than  any  other 
man  living.  He  knew  other  banks  would  like  to  be  relieved  of  all 
the  red  tape  incidental  to  buying  and  putting  up  bonds  to  cover  circu- 
lation, depositing  reserves  to  cover  note  issues,  etc.,  etc.  He  began 
to  dictate  a  circular  letter  to  be  sent  broadcast  to  the  country's 
4,000  national  banks. 

His  plan  becoming  known,  he  was  solemnly  informed  that  it  was 
one  of  the  proudest  traditions  of  the  National  City  Bank  that  it  had 
never  solicited  new  business. 

"If  you  never  went  after  new  business  before,  it  is  time  you  started 
now,"  he  replied.  He  resumed  the  dictating  of  his  circular — and 
the  City  Bank  became  the  bank  for  other  banks  and  built  up  the 
greatest  bond  business  in  the  whole  country. 

VanderHp's  reward  came  in  the  form  of  elevation  to  the  presidency 
eight  years  later. 

When  Mr.  Vanderlip  came  to  the  City  Bank,  in  1901,  its  capital 
was  only  ^10,000,000  and  its  deposits  not  far  above  ^150,000,000; 
but  in  the  following  year  the  capital  was  increased  to  $25,000,000, 
while  deposits  had  risen  to  over  $240,000,000  when  Mr.  Vanderlip 
became  president,  in  January,  1909.  More  recently  deposits  ex- 
ceeded $600,000,000,  a  figure  not  approached  by  any  other  American 
institution.  These  deposits  equal  one-seventh  of  all  the  money  in 
circulation  in  the  United  States! 

The  moment  the  Federal  Reserve  Act  was  passed,  permitting 
branch  banking,  the  City  Bank  seized  the  wider  opportunities  thus 
opened  up.  Soon  the  bank  had  branches  in  Petrograd,  Genoa, 
Buenos  Aires,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Sao  Paulo,  Santos,  Bahia,  Valparaiso, 
Montevideo,  Havana  and  Santiago,  Cuba.  Several  other  branches 
are  contemplated,  while  surveys  are  being  made  in  almost  every  civil- 
ized country  with  a  view  to  dotting  the  world  with  American  banks. 


396  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

To  buttress  this  plan,  control  of  the  International  Banking  Corpora- 
tion was  acquired  with  its  branches  in  the  Far  East  and  elsewhere. 

Every  robust  American  would  like  to  see  the  United  States  become 
the  greatest  financial  and  commercial  nation  on  earth.  Mr.  Vander- 
lip  succeeded,  in  1915,  in  bringing  together  the  most  influential 
capitalistic  interests  in  the  land  for  the  formation  of  the  American 
International  Corporation  as  an  instrument  to  aid  in  achieving  this 
end.  Behind  this  $50,000,000  corporation  stand  the  resources  and 
the  brains  not  only  of  the  City  Bank,  but  also  of  the  Rockefellers, 
Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.,  and  other  influential  houses  and  individuals. 

Ships  are  a  nation's  shoes.  Hence  the  first  step  of  the  American 
International  was  to  acquire  an  interest  in  International  Mercantile 
Marine,  the  United  Fruit  Company,  with  its  fleet  of  ninety  steamers, 
the  Pacific  Mail,  shipyards,  etc.  Plans  for  extending  America's 
financial  and  commercial  ramifications  abroad  and  for  strengthening 
home  facilities  are  being  perfected  by  the  new  enterprise  on  a  scale 
transcending  anything  America  has  ever  known. 

One  of  Mr.  Vanderlip's  ambitions  is  to  make  the  City  Bank  the 
Alma  Mater  of  the  coming  generation  of  bankers.  A  beginning  has 
been  made  by  bringing  the  most  promising  students  from  the  leading 
universities  for  a  year's  course  in  the  City  Bank.  On  finishing,  the 
students  are  given  positions  in  the  foreign  branches  or  the  head  office 
of  the  bank.  Classes  are  also  held  for  all  the  boys  and  youths  in  the 
bank.     Indeed,  the  City  Bank  is  almost  as  much  university  as  bank. 

Money-making  has  not  monopolized  this  banker's  attention.  He 
did  not  wait  until  he  had  millions  before  he  began  to  do  things  for 
others. 

His  belief  that  every  citizen  should  give  the  best  that  is  in  him  to 
the  state  led  him  to  accept  the  presidency  of  Letchworth  Village  at 
the  time  it  was  proposed  by  the  legislature  to  isolate  the  feeble- 
minded and  epileptic.  He  immediately  engaged  a  secretary  experi- 
enced in  philanthropy — Miss  Bruere,  sister  of  ex-Chamberlain 
Bruere  of  New  York  City — to  give  her  time  and  best  judgment  to  the 
establishment  of  a  model  state  home  of  this  type. 

Recognition  of  Mr.  Vanderlip's  unselfish  services  has  come  from 
the  educational,  the  commercial,  and  the  financial  world.  He  is  a  trus- 
tee of  the  Carnegie  Foundation  and  of  the  New  York  University,  a  life 
trustee  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  and  possesses 
several  honorary  degrees  from  universities.  The  commercial  com- 
munity bestowed  on  him  the  chairmanship  of  the  Finance  Committee 
of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  The  bankers  elected  him  president 
of  the  New  York  Clearing  House.  He  has  been  frequently  selected 
by  New  York  mayors  to  serve  on  important  committees.  His 
pioneer  and  persistent  work  to  secure  for  the  United  States  currency 


FRANK  A.  VANDERLIP  397 

reform,  and  his  masterly  activities  in  grappling  with  the  financial 
crises  of  1907  and  1914,  won  him  the  thanks  of  the  whole  financial 
community. 

Even  more  valuable  to  the  country  were  Mr.  Vanderlip's  day-and- 
night  labours  to  insure  the  successful  flotation  of  the  ^2,000,000,000 
Liberty  Loan.  It  is  no  secret  that  at  one  stage  the  oflTering  threatened 
to  fall  flat.  After  the  initial  hurrah,  when  Washington  was  carried 
away  by  the  first  inrush  of  subscriptions  and  gave  out  the  impression 
that  the  loan  was  certain  to  be  over-subscribed  forthwith,  a  relapse 
occurred.  The  whole  country  became  apathetic.  Then  New  York's 
leading  financiers  entered  the  field  and  performed  miracles.  They 
not  only  aroused  the  financial  community  to  the  enormity  of  the  task 
on  hand,  but  by  their  example,  by  the  campaign  they  instituted,  by 
the  plans  they  devised,  by  the  literature  they  prepared,  by  the  posters 
they  introduced,  by  the  vim  and  force  and  momentum  they  worked 
up  they  set  a  pace  and  a  precedent  for  other  cities  and  districts. 
But  for  this  work  the  result  of  the  loan  might  have  been  less  gratifying. 

Leadership  in  the  campaign  was  really  taken  by  Mr.  Vanderlip. 
He  travelled  hither  and  thither  delivering  inspiring,  patriotic  speeches 
to  country  bankers  and  others;  he  directed  the  whole  publicity 
"drive";  he  supplied  the  newspaper  representatives  with  facts  and 
ideas  from  day  to  day — and  often  late  at  night;  and,  in  short,  he 
slaved  even  harder  than  he  did  when  he  handled  the  flotation  of 
the  Spanish  War  loan  in  his  Treasury  days.  Not  many  nights  during 
the  whole  campaign  did  he  find  opportunity  to  see  his  family.  Signal 
recognition  of  his  services  came  later.  When  the  second  loan  was 
announced  Mr.  Vanderlip  was  called  to  Washington  to  direct  the 
popular  distribution  and  he  at  once  took  up  abode  there. 

As  an  author  Mr.  Vanderlip  ranks  high.  His  book  "Business  and 
Education,"  which  includes  the  much-translated  series  of  articles  on 
"The  Commercial  Invasion  of  Europe,"  is  still  in  demand.  No 
financier's  speeches  arouse  more  interest  throughout  the  land — this 
is  not  solely  because  of  his  position,  but  because  of  his  reputation 
for  foresight  in  discerning  great  financial  and  commercial  movements 
and  trends. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  single  factor  in  Mr.  Vanderlip's  phenomenal 
success  in  later  years  has  been  his  extraordinary  ability  to  inspire 
and  develop  the  men  serving  with  him  and  under  him. 

His  love  of  the  country  still  clings  so  strongly  to  Mr.  Vanderlip 
that  he  has  no  city  house.  His  home  life  is  spent  at  Scarborough  amid 
ideal  domestic  as  well  as  ideal  scenic  surroundings.  Mrs.  Vanderlip 
shares  his  interest  in  educational  and  philanthropic  activities.  They 
have  six  children. 


PAUL  M.  WARBURG 

PICTURE  a  party  of  the  nation's  greatest  bankers  stealing 
out  of  New  York  on  a  private  railroad  car,  hieing  hundreds 
of  miles  south  to  an  island  deserted  by  all  but  a  few  servants,  and 
living  there  a  full  week  under  such  rigid  secrecy  that  the  name  of 
not  one  of  them  was  once  mentioned  lest  the  servitors  learn  their 
identity  and  disclose  to  the  world  this  historic  episode  in  American 
finance. 

I  am  here  giving  to  the  world  the  real  story  of  how  the  famous 
Aldrich  currency  report,  the  foundation  of  our  new  currency  system, 
was  written. 

Paul  M.  Warburg  is  popularly  supposed  to  have  been  the  author 
and  writer  of  the  Aldrich  measure.     He  wasn't. 

The  Aldrich  Commission,  headed  by  Senator  Nelson  W.  Aldrich 
and  composed  of  a  galaxy  of  American  notables,  visited  Europe  in 
the  spring  of  1908.  The  members  and  their  advisers  assiduously 
gathered  banking  information  wherever  they  went  and  employed  the 
ablest  experts  to  compile  for  them  the  fullest  data.  The  material 
prepared,  when  printed  and  bound,  formed  a  unique  financial  library. 
The  commissioners  returned  to  America  with  the  reputation  of  having 
done  their  gigantic  work  most  thoroughly,  and  the  whole  country 
looked  forward  to  the  issuance  of  the  Aldrich  Commission  report  as  a 
financial  and  political  event  of  momentous  importance. 

Senator  Aldrich  did  not  attempt,  singlehanded,  to  evolve  a  viag- 
num  opus  out  of  the  chaotic  mountains  of  material  turned  in  by  an 
army  of  expert  writers  and  investigators  in  Europe  and  at  home. 

Instead,  he  issued  a  confidential  invitation  to  Henry  P.  Davison 
of  J.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.;  Frank  A.  Vanderlip,  president  of  the  National 
City  Bank  and  an  ex-Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  Paul  M. 
Warburg,  then  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Company,  and  A.  Piatt  Andrew, 
Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  accompany  him  on  an  ex- 
tremely important — and  secret — trip.  Mr.  Davison  had  gone  with 
the  Commission  to  Europe  as  an  adviser;  Mr.  Vanderlip  was  a  recog- 
nized authority  on  banking  and  currency  fundamentals;  Mr.  Warburg 
had  written  most  learnedly  on  the  subject,  and  Mr.  Andrew  had  done 
a  great  deal  of  work  for  the  Commission. 

After  a  journey  hedged  with  the  utmost  secrecy,  the  party  were 
landed  in  a  small  boat  at  the  deserted  Jekyl  Island,  off  Georgia. 

398 


PAUL  M.  WARBURG 


PAUL  M.  WARBURG  399 

"The  servants  must  under  no  circumstances  learn  who  we  are," 
cautioned  Senator  Aldrich. 

"What  can  we  do  to  fool  them?"  asked  another  member  of  the 
group.     The  problem  was  discussed, 

"I  have  it,"  cried  one.  "Let's  all  call  each  other  by  our  first 
names.     Don't  ever  let  us  mention  our  last  names." 

It  was  so  agreed. 

The  dignified,  veteran  Senator  Aldrich,  king  of  Rhode  Island  and 
a  power  second  to  none  in  the  United  States  Senate,  became  just 
"Nelson";  Henry  P.  Davison,  everywhere  recognized  as  among  the 
ablest  international  bankers  America  has  ever  produced,  forthwith 
became  "Harry";  the  president  of  the  nation's  largest  bank  becam.e 
"Frank,"  and  the  quiet,  scholarly  member  of  the  powerful  interna- 
tional banking  firm  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.  became  "  Paul." 

Nelson  had  told  Harry,  Frank,  Paul,  and  Piatt  that  he  was  to 
keep  them  on  Jekyl  Island,  cut  off  from  the  rest  of  the  worI4,  until 
they  had  evolved  and  compiled  a  scientific  currency  system  for  the 
United  States,  a  system  that  would  embody  all  that  was  best  in 
Europe,  yet  so  modelled  that  it  could  serve  a  country  measuring 
thousands  against  European  countries  measuring  only  hundreds  of 
miles. 

After  a  general  discussion  it  was  decided  to  draw  up  certain  broad 
principles  on  which  all  could  agree.  Every  member  of  the  group 
voted  for  a  central  bank  as  being  the  ideal  cornerstone  for  any  national 
banking  system.  One  by  one  other  features  were  brought  forward 
and  carefully  pondered.  Day  after  day  for  more  than  a  week  these 
giant  intellects  wrestled  with  their  colossal  problem.  They  worked 
not  five  or  eight  hours  a  day,  but  all  day  and  far  into  the  night.  Each 
contributed  the  best  in  him.  The  actual  dictating  of  the  measure 
was  done  largely  by  Frank  and  occasionally  by  Paul. 

As  quietly  as  they  had  left,  the  authors  of  the  epochal  Aldrich 
report  disappeared  from  Jekyl  Island  and  slipped  into  New  York 
undetected. 

When  Congress  assembled,  the  aged  Senator  Aldrich  was  ill,  and 
he  summoned  his  trusted  friends,  Harry,  Frank,  and  Paul,  to  Wash- 
ington and  they  joined  him  in  writing  the  message  that  accompanied 
the  report  to  the  Senate. 

To  this  day  these  financiers  are  Frank  and  Harry  and  Paul  to  one 
another  and  the  late  Senator  remained  "Nelson"  to  them  until  his 
death.  Later  Benjamin  Strong,  Jr.,  was  called  into  frequent  con- 
sultation and  he  joined  the  "First-Name  Club"  as  "Ben." 

I  want  to  add  explicitly  that  this  information  did  not  come  from 
Mr.  Warburg;  indeed,  he  and  other  members  of  the  group  will  be 
very  much  astonished  when  they  read  this.     While  the  details  may 


400  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

not  be  exactly  accurate  in  every  case,  the  main  facts  are  authentic 
beyond  question. 

Paul  M.  Warburg  more  than  any  other  man  had  made  banking 
reform  possible  in  this  country.  Trained  scientifically  in  European 
national  and  international  banking,  our  anachronistic  currency 
system  shocked  him. 

"The  United  States  is  at  about  the  same  point  that  had  been 
reached  by  Europe  at  the  time  of  the  Medicis.  We  have  been  shown 
bricks  of  the  time  of  Hammurabi,  the  Babylonian  monarch,  evidencing 
the  sale  of  a  crop  and  similar  transactions,  and  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  it  was  as  easy  to  transfer  the  ownership  of  these  bricks  from  one 
person  to  another  as  it  is  to-day  for  an  American  bank  to  realize 
upon  its  discounted  paper,  if  indeed    t  was  not  easier." 

Thus  witheringly  he  wrote  in  1907.  But  he  did  more  than  criticize; 
he  applied  his  whole  talents  to  bringing  about  a  cure. 

It  cost  Mr.  Warburg  an  effort  to  enter  the  fray.  Naturally  shy, 
averse  to  appearing  in  public  or  in  the  public  prints,  unable  then  to 
speak  idiomatic  English  with  perfect  confidence,  tiien  a  foreigner  not 
naturalized,  he  shrank  from  coming  forward.  He  had  to  be  pushed 
to  the  front  by  friends  who  realized  the  value,  the  practicability,  and 
the  timeliness  of  his  proposed  reforms.  Only  the  consciousness  that 
the  country  was  sitting  precariously  on  a  monetary  volcano  impelled 
him  to  cast  aside  all  personal  considerations  and  do  what  he  considered 
an  uncongenial  but  imperative  public  duty. 

He  opened  fire  in  January,  1907,  with  an  elaborate  article  on 
"Defects  and  Needs  of  Our  Banking  System,"  followed  with  a  blast, 
"A  Plan  for  a  Modified  Central  Bank,  *  several  months  later,  and  he 
never  ceased  to  raise  his  voice  and  ply  his  pen  until  currency  legisla- 
tion was  engraved  on  our  statute  books.  He  was  a  Central  Bank 
advocate;  yet  as  early  as  1910,  realizing  the  political  difficulties,  he 
evolved  a  plan  for  "A  United  Reserve  Bank  of  the  United  States," 
the  underlying  principles  of  which  are  embodied  in  the  law  now  in 
force.  The  centralization  of  reserves  under  properly  balanced 
authority  and  the  rediscounting  of  an  improved  type  of  commercial 
paper  so  as  to  transform  immobile  promissory  notes  into  bills  of 
exchange,  were  the  two  cardinal  reforms  he  constantly  emphasized — 
reforms  which  were  written  into  the  Owen-Glass  law. 

It  is  no  disparagement  to  other  American  bankers  to  say  that  Mr. 
Warburg  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  first  authority  in  the  land  on  na- 
tional and  international  banking  principles. 

The  depth  of  his  sincerity  and  of  his  zeal  for  currency  reform  can 
be  partly  gauged  by  the  fact  that  he  gave  up  an  income  of  at  least 
$500,000  a  year  to  accept  a  salary  of  $12,000  a  year  as  a  member  of 
the  Federal  Reserve  Board. 


PAUL  M.  WARBURG  401 

What  sort  of  a  man  is  this  Paul  M.  Warburg  who  cheerfully  made 
such  a  financial  sacrifice?  How  did  he  gain  his  unparalleled  reputa- 
tion as  a  banking  authority?     What  is  his  history? 

The  story  differs  from  that  of  the  typical  self-made  American  of 
lowly  birth,  early  hardships,  and  final  triumph, 

Paul  Moritz  Warburg  did  not  have  the  spur  of  necessity  to  prod 
him  forward;  he  was  born  rich,  but  he  determined  to  overcome  that 
handicap.  For  centuries  Warburgs  have  figured  prominently  in 
German  commerce,  particularly  in  Hamburg.  Their  entrance  into 
the  banking  field  dates  from  the  time  George  Washington  was  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Warburg's  great-grandfather  then 
founded  the  banking  house  of  Warburg  &  Warburg  in  Hamburg, 
and  Warburgs  have  conducted  it  ever  since,  no  outsiders  being  eligible 
for  membership.  None  was  ever  needed,  for  the  Warburg  fathers 
saw  to  it  that  the  Warburg  sons  were  trained  to  maintain  and  expand 
the  business. 

Paul's  drilling  was  thorough.  On  graduating  from  the  gymnasium 
at  18 — he  was  born  in  1868 — he  was  put  to  work  with  an  exporting 
firm.  His  taste  ran  to  study  rather  than  barter.  His  duties  in- 
cluded sticking  price-labels  on  bundles  of  stockings,  clothing,  and 
other  merchandise,  keeping  tab  of  goods  handled  on  the  docks,  and 
other  activities  more  menial  than  mental.  But  Hamburg's  docks 
formed  an  ideal  foundry  for  forging  embryonic  international  bankers. 
Ships  and  men  of  all  nations  plied  to  and  from  the  port;  merchandise 
of  all  classes  was  constantly  passing  over  the  piers;  all  tongues  were 
spoken,  all  national  characteristics  revealed.  The  high-born,  sensi- 
tive, scholarly  youth  did  not  flinch.  It  was  a  tradition  of  the  War- 
burg family  that  it  did  not  breed  idlers.  He  would  not  break  that 
tradition. 

Two  years  of  this  sternly  practical  commercial  experience  qualified 
him  to  enter  the  family  banking  house  to  learn  the  A  B  C  of  the 
financing  of  the  merchandise  he  had  handled  and  seen  handled  on 
the  polyglottic  docks.  Next  he  was  sent  to  England  to  learn  how 
things  were  done  in  the  world's  financial  hub.  For  two  years  he 
worked  in  one  of  those  banking  and  discount  firms  which  abound  in 
London  as  nowhere  else,  firms  whose  activities  have  for  more  than 
a  century  made  Britain  the  world's  international  banker.  His  Lon- 
don experience  was  rounded  out  by  a  few  months  in  a  stockbroker's 
office,  a  position  which  did  not  appeal  strongly  to  the  banker-in-the- 
making,  for  he  had  no  taste  for  stock  speculation. 

France  was  his  next  training  ground.  Here  he  widened  his  knowl- 
edge of  practical  banking.  Back  to  Hamburg  he  next  went  to  finish 
his  banking  education.  To  round  it  off  he  was  dispatched,  in  1893, 
on  a  trip  round  the  world,  when,  after  visiting  India,  China,  and  Japan, 


402  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

he  "took  in  "  the  United  States.  Here  he  met  a  young  lady  who  cap- 
tured his  affections,  an  occurrence  that  was  destined  to  change  the 
whole  course  of  his  career. 

On  returning  to  Hamburg  he  was  considered  fit  to  become  a  member 
of  the  firm.  This  was  not  astonishing,  seeing  that  he  had  gone 
through  the  mill  of  commerce,  had  gathered  first-hand  experience 
in  the  two  leading  financial  centres  of  the  world,  had  travelled  ex- 
tensively and  observantly,  had  studied  his  profession  from  every 
angle,  and  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  value  of  the  services  rendered 
to  the  world  by  bankers  engaged  in  financing  domestic  and  interna- 
tional trade. 

Two  years  later  he  returned  and  married  Nina  J.  Loeb,  daughter 
of  the  late  Solomon  Loeb,  of  Kuhn,  Loeb  &  Co.  Yearly  visits  to 
the  United  States  were  followed,  in  1902,  by  his  admission  to  his 
father-in-law's  international  banking  firm,  a  step  induced  by  the 
illness  of  his  wife's  parents  and  their  desire  to  have  their  daughter 
near  them. 

The  idea  of  becoming  an  American  citizen  did  not  at  first  enter 
his  mind.  He  had  taken  his  place  in  the  life  of  his  native  country; 
he  was  a  member  of  the  local  legislative  body,  and  also  the  Haendels- 
gewicht,  a  court  of  arbitration  for  the  settlement  of  mercantile  dis- 
putes and  was  rapidly  coming  to  be  recognized  as  a  power  in  Hamburg 
financing. 

He  had  not  been  in  New  York  a  month  when  Wall  Street  indulged 
in  one  of  its  frequent  displays  of  monetary  fireworks.  Call  money — 
that  is,  loans  made  from  one  day  to  another — skyrocketed  above 
20  per  cent.  He  was  dumfounded.  Such  things  did  not  occur 
under  the  banking  systems  of  England,  France,  or  Germany.  Why 
should  they  occur  here,  upsetting  everything.'* 

He  at  once  sat  down  and  wrote  an  article  explaining  the  basic 
causes  of  the  trouble.     Then  he  promptly  locked  the  article  away! 

"I  did  not  want  to  be  one  of  those  who  try  to  educate  the  country 
after  they  have  been  here  a  few  weeks,"  was  the  reason  he  gave 
for  tucking  away  the  article,  an  explanation  characteristic  of  the 
man. 

The  article  lay  unused  for  four  years.  During  this  time  Mr.  War- 
burg was  carving  for  himself  a  place  in  American  finance.  His  firm 
was  then  backing  Harriman  in  railroad  developments  that  caused 
the  country  to  gasp,  so  bold,  daring,  and  original  w^ere  the  strokes 
that  followed  one  another.  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  also  one  of 
Kuhn-Loeb's  clients,  was  spending  many  millions  in  defying  nature 
and  nullifying  geography  by  burrowing  into  Manhattan  Island. 
Other  powerful  railroad  systems  had  to  be  supplied  with  funds. 
And  industrial  enterprises  likewise  demanded  attention — and  millions. 


PAUL  M.  WARBURG  403 

Mr.  Warburg  learned  the  game  and  played  it  with  skill.  But  he 
was  still  the  student,  the  scholar,  the  investigator  of  banking  principles 
rather  than  a  "Wall  Street  Banker"  with  one  eye  on  his  desk  and  the 
other  on  the  stock-ticker  tape.  Bluntly,  he  hated  speculation.  His 
conception  of  a  banker  was  a  man  of  unquestioned  integrity  and  repu- 
tation whose  chief  mission  was  to  enable  the  wheels  of  commerce  to 
revolve  by  supplying  a  sufficiency  of  funds  and  credit. 

When  the  clouds  which  culminated  in  the  1907  panic  began  to 
gather,  clear-sighted  authorities  turned  their  attention  anew  to 
banking  reform.  Mr.  Warburg  was  one  of  a  party  of  bankers  and 
economists  who  gathered  at  the  home  of  Professor  Edwin  R.  A. 
Seligman  of  Columbia  University  and  discussed  the  ominous  outlook. 
Mr.  Warburg  enunciated  his  theories.  They  captured  the  intellec- 
tuals. 

Professor  Seligman  urged  Mr.  Warburg  to  publish  his  views. 

Mr.  Warburg  demurred. 

Professor  Seligman  persisted  and  won. 

It  was  natural  that  Senator  Aldrich  should  have  enlisted  the  aid 
of  this  erudite  banker  whose  ideas  were  based  on  first-hand  knowledge 
and  practical  experience,  who  knew  every  European  banking  system, 
and  who  had  had  time  and  opportunity  to  learn  the  special  require- 
ments of  this  vast  democratic  country.  It  was  natural,  too,  that  the 
Democrats,  when  their  turn  came  to  prepare  currency  legislation, 
should  have  turned  to  Warburg  for  guidance.  They  found  him  big 
enough  and  not  too  bigoted  to  modify  his  proposals  in  accordance 
with  actualities  instead  of  fatuously  insisting  upon  the  attainment 
of  the  ideal  at  one  leap. 

"The  best  appointment  of  his  whole  administration,"  President 
Wilson's  selection  of  Mr.  Warburg  as  a  member  of  the  Federal  Re- 
serve Board  has  been  called. 

In  the  eyes  of  certain  Washington  politicians  all  "Wall  Street 
Bankers"  look  alike.  They  are  a  monstrous,  ravenous,  soulless  lot, 
ever  seeking  whom  they  may  devour,  perpetually  scheming  how  to 
keep  their  fists  tightly  clinched  on  the  throats  of  the  people.  Mr. 
Warburg's  name  was  received  by  these  gentlemen  with  scorn  and 
rage.  They  would  put  him  through  his  paces  before  they  refused 
to  confirm  his  nomination!  They  would  show  up  the  whole  "Money 
Trust"  gang! 

Mr.  Warburg  was  incensed.  He  had  consented  to  give  up  his 
profitable  partnership  in  one  of  the  greatest  international  houses 
in  America;  he  had  reconciled  himself  to  sacrificing  all  his  New  York 
friendships;  he  had  resolved  to  resign  from  every  railroad,  industrial, 
financial,  even  philanthropic  office  he  held  solely  because  of  the 
hope  that  his  example  might  stimulate  others  to  accept  public  service 


404  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

and  his  profound  conviction  that  the  occasion  demanded  patriotism 
of  a  high  order. 

For  his  voluntary  immolation  he  was  being  bombarded  with  volleys 
of  suspicion  and  condemnation. 

At  one  stage  Mr.  Warburg  would  have  given  a  million  dollars  could 
he  have  unwritten  his  letter  of  acceptance  to  President  Wilson. 

Finally,  he  consented  to  appear  before  his  inquisitors  on  the  con- 
dition that  "  the  affairs  of  my  partners,  who  are  not  here  as  nominees," 
would  not  be  taken  "as  a  basis  for  discussion." 

For  two  days  he  submitted  to  being  pelted  with  questions,  many  of 
them  insulting.     Here  is  an  example: 

"You  intend  to  go  on  this  board,  if  you  are  confirmed,  to  represent 
what.''"  asked  a  Senator. 

"To  represent  the  country  and  the  future  of  the  country,"  Mr. 
Warburg  replied  with  calm  dignity. 

Even  his  former  bitterest  opponents  have  now  come  to  realize 
that  Mr.  Warburg  is  in  truth  striving  to  represent  the  country  and 
its  future,  not  any  evil-motived  Wall  Street  clique. 

He  has  laboured  incessantly  to  improve  the  working  and  the  or-> 
ganization  of  the  country's  currency  system;  he  has  left  no  stone  un- 
turned to  enlighten  the  public  on  banking  principles;  he  has  rendered 
invaluable  service  in  cooperating  with  Governmental  authorities 
during  these  crucial  days  to  keep  things  on  an  even  keel.  It  is,  in- 
deed, well  for  the  nation  that  a  man  of  Paul  M.  Warburg's  calibre 
has  been  available  in  Washington  during  the  last  year  or  more. 

Analyzing  world  prospects,  Mr.  Warburg — in  an  address  before 
the  Commercial  Club  of  Chicago  in  April,  191 7,  on  "Government 
and  Business" — after  a  plea  for  helpful  cooperation  between  business 
men  and  those  chosen  by  the  Government  to  discharge  regulatory 
duties,  said: 

"In  the  state  of  the  future,  particularly  in  Europe  after  the  war, 
the  most  efficient  Government  promotion  of  industries  in  many  lines 
will  be  held  to  exist  in  actual  Government  ownership  and  operation. 
More  than  ever  before  will  States  become  solid  industrial  and  finan- 
cial unions  effectively  organized  for  world  competition  driven  by  the 
necessity  of  perfecting  a  system  of  the  greatest  efficiency,  economy, 
and  thrift  in  order  to  be  able  to  meet  the  incredible  burdens  created 
by  the  war. 

"Such  is  the  future  of  the  world  in  which  we  shall  have  to  maintain 
our  own  position,  and  it  requires,  on  our  part,  thorough  organization 
and  steady  leadership.  Under  our  democratic  system  this  cannot 
be  furnished  by  changing  party  Governments,  but  can  only  be  pro- 
vided by  fairly  permanent,  non-partisan,  and  expert  bodies.  These 
bodies  must  combine  the  judicial  point  of  view  with  that  of  active 


PAUL  M.  WARBURG  405 

and  constructive  business  minds.  They  must  be  able  to  act  as  ad- 
visers alike  to  Congress  and  the  industries  concerned.  They  must 
break  down  suspicion  and  prejudice  of  Government  against  business 
and  of  business  against  Government.  They  must  stand  for  the  in- 
terest of  all  against  the  exaction  or  aggression  of  any  single  individual 
or  group,  be  it  called  capital  or  labour,  carrier  or  shipper,  lender  or 
borrower,  Republican  or  Democrat. 

"Our  ability  to  handle  effectually  the  great  economic  problems  of 
the  future  will  depend  largely  upon  developing  boards  and  com- 
missions of  sufficient  expert  knowledge  and  independence  of  character. 
This  will  be  possible  only  if  both  Government  and  the  people  fully 
appreciate  the  importance  of  such  bodies,  so  that  the  country  may 
find  its  ablest  sons  willing  to  render  public  service  worthy  of  the 
personal  sacrifices  it  entails. 

"Aristotle,  in  defining  the  essential  characteristics  of  liberty,  said: 
'It  is  to  govern  and  in  turn  to  be  governed,'  and  this  thought  has  lost 
nothing  of  its  force  even  though  2,000  years  have  passed  since  it  was 
expressed.  Liberty  without  government  is,  anarchy.  Government 
without  cooperation  of  the  governed  is  autocracy.  To  govern  and 
in  turn  to  be  governed  is  the  only  form  of  true  liberty.  In  this  con- 
ception there  is  nobody  governing  and  nobody  governed.  We  all 
govern  and  serve  alike  and  together.  We  all  serve  one  master;  the 
only  master  that  no  liberty-loving  man  need  be  ashamed  to  serve — we 
serve  our  country." 

Personally,  Mr.  Warburg  would  rather  solve  a  knotty  banking 
problem  for  the  benefit  of  the  country  than  make  a  million  dollars. 
He  has  given  up  money-making  entirely,  having  resigned  from  all 
directorships  and  partnerships  both  here  and  abroad. 

His  home  is  one  of  the  most  artistically  furnished  in  Washington. 
He  still  maintains  his  old  home  at  White  Plains,  where  he  spends 
many  week-ends  and  most  of  the  summer  with  his  wife  and  children. 

Like  his  brother,  Felix  M.  Warburg,  also  a  partner  in  Kuhn,  Loeb 
&  Co.,  he  has  done  a  great  deal  of  charitable  and  philanthropic  work, 
especially  among  those  of  his  own  race.  In  this  he  has  the  energetic 
cooperation  of  Mrs.  Warburg. 

In  June,  1917,  Mr.  Warburg  received  the  honorary  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Commercial  Science  from  New  York  University. 

If  other  brainy  Americans  could  be  induced  to  give  up  money- 
making  and  dedicate  themselves  to  public  service,  the  United  States 
would  be  a  cleaner,  better-governed,  less-agitated  Republic. 


JOHN  IT.  WILLYS 

DOES  American  financial  annals  contain  any  story  to  match 
this? 
John  N.  Willys,  then  grubbing  along  as  an  automobile 
seUing  agent  in  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  became  uneasy,  in  tlie  dark  days  of 
December,  1907,  over  the  non-delivery  of  Overland  cars,  for  which 
he  had  booked  500  orders.  He  hopped  upon  a  train  for  Indianapolis, 
the  Overland  Company's  headquarters,  arrived  on  Saturday  evening, 
and  on  Sunday  morning  was  coolly  told  by  the  manager:  "We  are 
going  into  the  hands  of  a  receiver  to-morrow  morning." 

"You  are  not!''  Willys  countered  emphatically. 

"We  are"  reiterated  the  manager.  "Why,  we  paid  some  of  our 
workmen  by  checks  last  night  and  we  haven't  enough  money  in  the 
bank  to  meet  them  to-morrow  morning." 

"How  much  are  you  short?"  asked  Willys. 

"About  $350." 

Indianapolis  banks  were  paying  out  no  real  money  in  those  memor- 
able days.  The  town — like  most  of  the  United  States — was  on  a  scrip 
basis.  But  Willys  meant  to  raise  ^350  by  hook  or  by  crook  before  the 
bank  would  open  the  next  morning. 

The  interview  occurred  in  the  old  Grand  Hotel,  where  Mr.  Willys 
had  occasionally  stopped.     He  walked  boldly  up  to  the  hotel  clerk. 

"I  want  $350  cash  before  to-morrow  morning,"  he  informed  the 
young  man  behind  the  desk. 

"I  wish  you  luck,"  came  the  laughing  reply. 

"What?"  asked  Willys. 

"I  said:  'I  wigli  you  luck,'"  repeated  the  clerk. 

"But  you  have  to  get  it  for  me,"  Willys  told  him. 

"Swell  chance!"  came  back  the  clerk,  still  thinking  that  Willys 
was  joking. 

Willys  wrote  out  a  check  on  a  little  bank  in  Wellsboro,  Pa.,  for 
$350  and  sternly  told  the  clerk:  "I  must  have  cash  for  that  before 
the  bank  here  opens  to-morrow  morning."     The  clerk  again  laughed. 

"Isn't  the  check  good?"  Willys  demanded. 

"I  suppose  it  is,  but  where  are  you  going  to  get  ^350  cash?  I  can't 
get  a  cent  out  of  the  bank." 

There  and  then  Willys  planned  a  money-raising  campaign.  He 
told  the  clerk  to  freeze  on  to  every  dollar  that  came  into  the  office, 

406 


JOHN  N.  WILLYS 


JOHN  N.  WILLYS  407 

to  gather  up  every  cent  collected  in  the  restaurant,  and  to  empty  the 
bar-room  till.  "And  don't  cash  another  check  to  anybody  until 
we  get  this  money,"  Willys  cautioned.  The  proprietor,  having  been 
informed  of  the  purpose  for  which  the  money  was  so  urgently  needed, 
entered  into  the  spirit  of  the  thing,  and  by  midnight  Willys  was 
handed  a  mountain  of  silver  dollars,  half  dollars,  quarters,  dimes,  and 
nickels,  topped  off  with  a  thick  layer  of  one-dollar  bills  and  a  sprinkling 
of  twos,  fives,  and  tens. 

Early  next  morning  he  planked  the  pile  on  the  bank  counter,  to  the 
credit  of  the  Overland  Company.     The  pay  checks  were  duly  met. 

Within  eight  years  John  N.  Willys,  the  saver  of  Overland,  was 
oiFered  $80,000,000  for  his  share  of  the  company! 

Of  course,  the  mere  raising  of  $350  hard  cash  that  eventful  Sunday 
did  not  bring  the  Overland  concern  back  to  life.  It  merely  averted 
the  threatened  Monday  morning  crisis. 

Instructing  the  company  to  stand  off  all  creditors  during  the  week, 
Willys  hastened  to  Chicago  and  secured  enough  money  there  to  meet 
the  following  Saturday's  payroll.  For  five  weeks  he  hurried  and 
scurried  from  Indianapolis  to  Chicago  and  New  York  and  back 
again,  frantically  trying  to  finance  the  company.  The  Overland 
plant  then  consisted  merely  of  a  sheet-iron  shed  300  feet  long  by  80 
feet  wide,  with  a  shopworn  outfit  of  machinery  and  not  enough  ma- 
terial* on  hand  to  put  out  a  single  complete  car.  By  frenzied  scraping 
and  cajoling,  Willys  procured  sufficient  materials  to  enable  the  com- 
pany to  finish  enough  cars  to  keep  the  working  force  together. 

No  banker  would  touch  the  concern — the  bankers  would  not  even 
let  the  company  have  any  scrip  money  on  tick.  Creditors  were 
clamouring  for  payment — the  company  owed  $80,000  and  hadn't 
$80  to  its  name. 

Willys,  however,  was  determined  to  stave  ofF  disaster.  He  was 
confident  that  he  could  put  the  enterprise  on  its  feet  with  even  a  small 
amount  of  money.  He  had  promised  to  supply  500  cars  and  had  paid 
a  substantial  deposit  to  the  company. 

Finally  he  induced  an  acquaintance,  an  old  lumber  man,  to  agree 
to  lend  $15,000  real  cash.  This  wasn't  much  to  meet  $80,000  debts, 
buy  raw  materials,  and  pay  wages  and  salaries.  But  it  emboldened 
Willys  to  proceed  to  have  the  company's  lawyer  draw  up  a  proposed 
form  of  settlement  with  creditors.  Willys  undertook  to  pay  ten  cents 
on  the  dollar  at  once  and  other  instalments  later  to  those  who  insisted 
upon  part  cash,  while  his  trump  card  was  an  olFer  of  preferred  stock. 
The  draft  of  the  agreement  embodied  this  off'er. 

Alas,  his  lumber  friend  changed  his  mind  and  announced  that  he  did 
not  want  to  risk  his  funds.  Willys,  however,  again  demonstrated  his 
resourcefulness  by  prevaihng  upon  the  old  gentleman  to  put  up  $7,500. 


4o8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

But  the  agreement  read  that  Willys  stood  prepared  to  pay  insistent 
creditors  $15,000.  He  was  in  a  quandary.  But  not  for  long.  He 
simply  amended  the  sentence  to  read  that  he  would,  if  called  upon, 
pay  creditors  "not  to  exceed  $15,000." 

When  the  principal  creditors  came  together  they  were  at  first  re- 
fractory. Some  of  them  felt  insulted  at  the  terms  offered.  But 
John  North  Willys  proved  equal  to  the  occasion.  He  had  had  years 
of  training  as  a  salesman  of  anything  and  everything  from  books  to 
bicycles  and  automobiles.  His  eloquence,  his  sincerity,  and  his  faith 
in  the  future  of  the  automobile  industry  won  over  all  the  important 
creditors  and  so  convinced  them  of  the  company's  prospects  that  a 
majority  elected  to  accept  preferred  stock  for  their  entire  claims. 

It  actually  took  only  $3,500  cash  to  handle  the  Overland's  $80,000 
debts  and  to  start  off  the  reorganized  company  without  any  financial 
burdens  around  its  neck. 

Willys  showed  his  financiering  ability,  also,  in  his  handling  of  the 
manufacturers  and  others  who  supplied  the  Overland  with  parts. 
He  summoned  the  four  largest,  explained  to  them  that  they  might 
as  well  let  the  Overland  have  the  material  they  had  manufactured  for 
it,  painted  a  glowing  picture  of  the  company's  prospects  and  convinced 
them  it  would  pay  them  to  cooperate  by  accepting  three  months* 
notes  for  additional  supplies. 

Immediately  they  consented  to  do  this,  he  sprang  another  little 
wrinkle  on  them. 

"I  want  you,"  he  informed  them,  "to  assist  in  reestablishing  the 
company's  credit.  I  will  let  other  people  know  how  you  have  shown 
faith  in  the  company,  and  I  will  refer  any  doubters  to  you.  Anybody 
who  hesitates  to  give  us  credit  will  be  told  to  communicate  with  you. 
It  will  be  up  to  you  to  convince  them  that  we  are  all  right." 

This  novel  financial  stroke  worked  beautifully. 

It  was  in  January,  1908,  that  the  reorganization  was  accomplished. 
Mr.  Willys  became  president,  treasurer,  general  manager,  sales 
manager,  etc.,  etc.  By  September  of  the  same  year  465  cars  had 
been  made,  sold  (at  $1,200  each),  and  delivered.  And  the  company 
showed  a  net  worth  of  $58,000. 

In  the  next  twelve  months,  on  this  $58,000  capital,  Willys  manufac- 
tured and  sold  over  4,000  automobiles  at  a  total  price  of  $5,000,000 
and  cleaned  up  a  net  profit  of  over  $1,000,000. 

Before  telling  of  his  later  triumphs,  it  will  be  in  order  to  narrate 
how  John  N.  Willys  first  became  interested  in  the  automobile  indus- 
try.    It  is  a  quaint  story. 

Let  me  give  it  in  Mr.  Willy s's  own  words: 

"I  was  standing  looking  out  of  a  window  in  a  skyscraper  at  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  one  day  in  1899  when  I  noticed  a  thing  on  four  wheels 


JOHN  N.  WILLYS  409 

creeping  along  the  street.  No  horse  was  attached  to  it.  From 
where  I  was  it  looked  exactly  like  a  carriage.  I  immediately  said 
to  myself,  'That  machine  has  all  the  bicycles  in  the  country  beaten 
hollow' — I  was  then  in  the  bicycle  business.  I  made  up  my  mind 
that  I  would  get  into  this  new  field  at  the  first  moment  possible. 
I  investigated  and  found  that  what  I  had  seen  was  a  Winton  car; 
but  I  did  not  then  get  a  chance  to  examine  it.  The  total  output  of 
cars  in  that  year  was  less  than  4,000  for  the  whole  country.  Next 
year  a  doctor  in  Elmira,  where  I  was  living,  bought  one  of  them. 

"I  looked  it  over  very  carefully,  and  then  bought  a  Pierce  Motor- 
ette,  built  by  the  company  which  now  builds  Pierce-Arrow  cars. 
It  was  built  like  a  carriage  but  had  a  French  motor  about  the  size 
of  a  water  bottle  on  the  rear  axle.  This  motor  developed  only  2f 
horsepower — a  good  motor  bicycle  now  has  4  horsepower.  The 
car  was  so  low-geared  that  it  could  take  hills  at  two  or  three  miles  an 
hour.  It  had  a  narrow  wheel  base  and  was  smaller  than  the  Ford 
car  is  now. 

"I  set  off  for  Buffalo  to  see  Mr.  Pierce — I  was  then  agent  for  Pierce- 
Arrow  bicycles.  He  told  me  they  were  experimenting  with  automo- 
biles, and  I  sat  with  him  two  or  three  hours  discussing  the  future  of 
motor  vehicles.  I  made  him  promise  to  let  me  have  one  of  the  very 
first  they  turned  out. 

"Shortly  after  that  I  got  a  car,  for  $900,  to  use  as  a  sample  and  to 
give  demonstrations.  That  year,  although  everybody  was  anxious 
for  a  demonstration,  I  sold  only  two  cars.  Next  year  I  doubled  my 
sales — I  sold  four.  Then  I  took  on  the  Rambler  agency  as  well  as 
the  Pierce  and  my  sales  in  the  following  year  (1903)  jumped  to 
twenty.  Motor  cars,  you  should  remember,  were  then  about  at  the 
same  stage  as  aeroplanes  are  now.     It  was  uphill,  pioneer  work. 

"I  knew  there  was  money  in  it,  and  I  was  anxious  to  get  into  the 
manufacturing  end.  By  1905  it  was  easy  enough  to  get  orders  but 
very  difficult  to  get  cars.  The  demand  was  far  above  the  supply. 
Manufacturers  became  quite  dictatorial;  they  were  cocks  of  the 
walk. 

"I  made  up  my  mind  that  the  big  money  was  to  be  made  in  making 
-cars  rather  than  in  the  selling  end.  But  I  had  neither  enough  money 
nor  manufacturing  experience.  Nor  was  I  a  mechanic.  The  best 
thing  I  could  do,  I  concluded,  was  to  form  a  large  selling  company, 
as  I  had  done  in  bicycles,  take  the  entire  output  of  one  or  two  com- 
panies, sell  the  cars  at  wholesale,  and  then  graduate  into  the  manu- 
facturing end. 

"So,  in  1906,  I  formed  the  American  Motor  Car  Sales  Company, 
with  headquarters  in  Elmira,  and  undertook  the  sale  of  the  whole 
output  of  the  American  and  Overland  companies,  both  in  Indianapo- 


4IO  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

lis.  I  had  to  put  up  a  big  deposit,  but  I  had  lived  economically  and 
had  saved  some  money;  The  Overland,  at  that  time,  had  been  in 
business  for  six  years.  Its  biggest  year  was  1906,  when  its  total 
output  was  forty-seven  cars. 

"Before  the  panic  started  in  October,  1907,  our  Sales  Company 
had  contracted  to  supply  to  dealers  500  Overland  cars.  I  was  doing 
well.     I  was  anxious  to  branch  out. 

"Off  I  went  to  Indianapolis  and  signed  a  contract  to  distribute  the 
Marion  car.  I  was  feeling  quite  happy  on  my  way  back  to  New 
York  that  evening  when,  phew!  I  picked  up  an  evening  paper  and 
read  that  the  Knickerbocker  Trust  Company  had  closed  its  doors 
and  that  pandemonium  had  broken  out  in  New  York. 

"I  decided  to  sit  tight  until  the  storm  blew  over.  But  the  Over- 
land quickly  began  to  act  suspiciously,  and  by  the  beginning  of 
December  things  became  so  ominous  that  I  decided  to  go  to  Indianapo- 
lis and  investigate.     You  know  what  I  discovered." 

The  Overland's  troubles  proved,  for  Mr.  Willys,  a  blessing — a  bless- 
ing much  disguised  at  the  time.  The  company's  misfortune  proved 
the  birth  of  his  fortune. 

Up  till  then  Mr.  Willys  had  had  a  varied  career.  He  was  born, 
in  1873,  in  a  place  more  noted  for  its  natural  beauty  than  as  a  gateway 
to  millionairedom,  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.  From  his  earliest  boyhood  he 
Vsas  fond  of  doing  little  business  deals  with  his  companions;  he  always 
had  something  in  his  pockets  for  sale.  The  first  real  initiative  he 
showed  was  when,  noticing  how  the  reins  were  always  falling  down 
among  horses'  feet,  he  procured  and  sold  a  dozen  little  clamps  for 
holding  the  reins.  With  the  proceeds  he  bought  two  dozen  and 
quickly  disposed  of  them  all.  When  he  grew  a  little  older,  say, 
eleven  or  twelve,  he  made  a  contract  with  his  father  to  work  in 
the  latter's  brick  and  tile  factory  for  25  cents  each  Saturday  with 
extra  pay  for  working  a  couple  of  hours  after  school,  daily.  But  even 
these  long  hours  did  not  stop  his  trading  propensities. 

He  made  a  success  of  everything  he  tackled,  with  one  exception. 
He  became  a  book  agent  to  utilize  his  hours  after  school,  his  specialty 
being  a  "Life  of  Garfield."  But  the  returns  did  not  satisfy  his  ideas 
of  his  earning  power  and  he  gave  it  up. 

All  these  experiences  he  passed  through  before  he  had  reached  the 
age  when  the  average  boy  dons  long  trousers. 

One  of  his  chums  was  a  lad  who  worked  in  a  laundry,  and  little 
Johnnie  Willys  became  interested  in  this  method  of  money-making. 
Before  he  was  sixteen  he  had  talked  his  parents  into  allowing  him  to 
buy,  along  with  his  young  friend,  a  laundry  at  Seneca  Falls,  about 
thirty  miles  away.  His  parents  hoped  that  a  taste  of  roughing  it  in 
a  laundry  and  in  a  boarding-house  away  from  home  would  quickly 


JOHN  N.  WILLYS  411 

cure  him  of  his  mania  for  business  and  drive  him  back  home  to  his 
school  books.     They  fully  expected  him  home  in  a  week. 

The  budding  knights  of  the  wash-tub  and  the  ironing-board  dis- 
covered they  had  been  "stuck."  However,  they  buckled  down  to 
business  with  grim  determination. 

Their  knowledge  of  finance  was  so  limited — the  senior  partner  was 
only  eighteen — that  when  they  received  a  check  one  day  for  six 
dollars  they  hadn't  the  slightest  idea  how  to  go  about  turning  it 
into  cash!  Willys  finally  summoned  up  courage  to  take  it  to  a  bank. 
He  was  not  known  there,  and  they  did  not  care  to  cash  it  for  him. 
Even  then,  however,  Willys  had  a  persuasive  tongue  and  an  ingratiat- 
ing personality,  and  when  he  walked  out  of  the  bank  he  had  the  six 
dollars  in  his  pocket. 

At  the  end  of  a  year,  having  succeeded  in  putting  the  laundry  on  a 
paying  basis,  they  sold  out  with  a  net  profit  of  $100  each.  By  this 
time  Willys  regretted  he  had  not  had  more  education.  He  returned 
home  with  the  intention  of  working  his  way  through  college  and 
becoming  a  lawyer.  He  was  getting  along  quite  well  with  his  studies 
and  working  in  a  law  office  (one  of  the  partners  of  which,  Royal  R. 
Scott,  is  now  secretary  of  the  Willys-Overland  Company).  Then  his 
father  died  and  young  Willys  had  to  give  up  his  college  aspirations. 

Bicycles  were  beginning  to  make  their  appearance,  and  he  thought 
he  saw  in  them  a  profitable  outlet  for  his  ingenuity  as  a  salesman. 
With  the  hundred  dollars  he  had  cleaned  up  on  the  laundry,  he  bought 
a  sample  bicycle,  the  New  Mail,  and  was  duly  authorized  as  a  local 
agent  for  the  manufacturers.  He  induced  several  friends  to  invest 
in  the  new  "safeties,"  and  by  the  time  he  was  eighteen  he  had  organ- 
ized a  Sales  Company,  opened  a  store,  established  a  repair  shop  in 
the  rear,  and  prospered  so  much  that  by  and  by  he  opened  a  larger 
establishment  in  Canandaigua's  main  street.  He  advertised  freely — 
the  fancy  papenveight  alongside  the  guests'  register  at  the  local  hotel 
still  bears  a  Willys  "ad"  which  cost  him  three  dollars,  not  a  big  sum, 
to  be  sure,  when  compared  vvith  the  $2,500,000  Willys  now  spends 
in  advertising  his  Overland  and  Willys-Knight  cars. 

"I  surely  was  going  on  the  high  gear,"  Mr.  Willys  remarked  in 
discussing  his  youthful  experiences.  "I  could  sell  any  number  of 
bicycles;  but  I  made  the  mistake  of  taking  everybody  to  be  honest, 
just  as  I  was.  I  found  it  was  one  thing  to  sell  bicycles  and  another 
thing  to  collect  the  money.  It  needed  only  the  upheaval  caused  by 
the  free  silver  rumpus  of  1896  to  bowl  m.e  over.  That  was  one  of  the 
best  things  that  ever  happened  to  me.  It  taught  me  a  lesson.  It 
put  business  sense  into  my  head." 

Taking  a  job  as  a  travelling  salesman  with  the  Boston  Woven  Hose 
&  Rubber  Company,  he  worked  hard  and  saved  money  in  preparation 


412  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

for  reentering  business  on  his  own  account.  Among  his  customers 
was  the  Elmira  Arms  Company,  a  sporting  goods  store  which  had 
bankrupted  four  proprietors  in  succession.  When  the  Klondyke  gold 
fever  broke  out  the  owner  of  the  store  itched  to  get  away,  and  was 
glad  to  sell  out  his  i^2,8oo  worth  of  stock  to  Willys  for  ^^500  cash. 
Willys  installed  a  manager  and  injected  some  ginger  into  the  running 
of  the  store,  but  retained  his  own  job  until  one  day,  while  visiting 
Canandaigua,  he  met  Mr.  Scott,  who  asked  him  what  sort  of  a  con- 
cern this  was  he  travelled  for.  Willys  opened  a  line  of  talk  in  eulogy 
of  his  company  but  was  cut  short  by  having  an  afternoon  paper 
flaunted  in  his  face  with  an  announcement  of  its  failure. 

Astounded  but  not  daunted,  Willys  decided  to  take  personal  charge 
of  his  Elmira  venture.  He  at  once  made  a  specialty  of  bicycles  and 
began  to  make  some  headway  The  total  sales  in  eight  months 
reached  $2,800,  of  which  $1,000  was  profit.  Gradually  he  worked 
into  the  wholesale  distribution  of  bicycles  and  eventually  took  the 
whole  output  of  a  factory,  established  agencies  over  a  wide  territory, 
and  did  a  business  of  $500,000  a  year — not  a  mean  record  for  a  young 
man  of  twenty-seven. 

Then  came  the  automobile — and  financial  history. 

John  North  Willys  now  employs  in  his  factories  and  his  sales 
agencies  75,000  men,  a  number  exceeded  by  only  one  other  motor 
company  in  the  world.  He  had  the  distinction  of  being  the  only 
person  to  own  individually  a  large  automobile  enterprise. 

In  the  first  half  of  1916  the  Willys-Overland  Company  turned  out 
and  sold  over  94,000  automobiles,  while  his  1917 'production  was 
scheduled  at  nearer  i,ooo  cars  every  working  day! 

From  ownership  of  the  Overland,  Mr.  Willys  branched  out  and 
secured  control  of  other  important  concerns.  In  1909  he  took  over 
the  Pope-Toledo  Company  and  later  transferred  the  Overland  plant 
to  Toledo,  where  he  employs  over  18,000  men  in  his  automobile 
factory  and  over  2,000  in  the  Electric  Autolite  Company — which  had 
exactly  forty-two  employees  two  years  earlier  when  he  purchased  it. 
He  is  also  president  of  the  Morrow  Manufacturing  Company  of 
Elmira,  while  he  controls  an  important  rubber  company  and  is  the 
power  behind  the  throne  of  other  enterprises. 

Between  800  and  1,000  railroad  cars  are  filled  daily  at  plants  that 
Mr.  Willys  controls. 

The  market  value  of  the  Willys-Overland  securities  is  about 
$65,000,000,  and  dividends  are  at  the  rate  of  $6,100,000  a  year. 
And  now  Willys  has  jumped  in  and  become  the  foremost  figure  in 
the  aircraft  industry  through  his  acquisition  of  control  of  the  Curtis 
Aeroplane  Co.  and  the  booking  of  huge  orders  for  flying  machines 
for  war  use.     What  the  aircraft  industry  will  develop  into  no  man 


JOHN  N.  WILLYS  413 

can  foretell.  But  Willys  means  to  be  at  its  forefront.  Yet  ten 
years  ago  he  had  to  sweat  blood  to  raise  ^350  to  meet  the  Overland 
payroll! 

But  he  is  the  same  democratic,  unaffected,  boyishly  exuberant  and 
enthusiastic  John  N.  Willys  as  he  was  when  he  struggled  with  the 
cashing  of  that  first  six-dollar  check.  Wealth  has  not  turned  his 
head.  In  earning  it  he  worked  from  seven  in  the  morning  to  mid- 
night daily  for  several  years — until  the  doctors  told  him  he  must 
either  drop  everything  and  go  pleasure-seeking  in  Europe  or  be  pre- 
pared to  become  an  inmate  of  a  sanatorium.  He  was  automobiling 
in  France  along  with  Mrs.  Willys  and  their  daughter  when  the  war 
broke  out  and  his  limousine  was  promptly  commandeered.  But  he 
made  up  for  it  by  booking  orders  for  a  few  thousand  motor  trucks 
from  the  Allies  before  he  left  Europe! 

He  still  toils  like  a  Trojan  while  at  work,  but,  having  organized 
and  systematized  his  various  enterprises,  he  can  steal  off  for  short 
trips  on  his  magnificent  245-foot  steam  yacht,  the  Isabel,  named  after 
Mrs.  Willys,  for  occasional  rounds  of  golf;  and  on  picture-hunting 
expeditions.  His  collection  of  paintings  is  among  the  most  notable 
in  the  West.  He  enjoys  life — both  its  work  hours  and  its  play  hours. 
I  know  no  man  of  great  wealth  who  takes  his  position  less  pompously. 

When  inspecting  the  hundred-acre  Willys-Overland  plant  at  Toledo 
I  visited  the  company's  $1,000,000  modern  office  building  overlooking 
the  beautiful  Willys  Park,  so  named  by  the  city  in  honour  of  its  most 
prominent  citizen,  and  while  there  I  took  occasion  to  chat  with  an 
office-boy. 

"Mr.  Willys  is  not  like  a  boss,"  he  told  me.  "He  always  speaks 
nicely  to  us.  One  morning  I  was  coming  up  the  stairs  with  my  arms 
so  full  of  mail  packages  that  I  couldn't  open  the  door.  Mr.  Willys 
saw  me  and  said:  'Wait  a  minute,  sonny,'  and  he  opened  that  door 
for  me  and  went  ahead  and  held  another  one  open  for  me,  too.  That's 
the  kind  of  things  he  does  all  the  time." 

They  don't  have  strikes  at  the  Willys  plant. 


THOMAS  E.  WILSON 

ONE  day  Nelson  Morris  &  Co.,  the  Chicago  packers,  asked 
the  chief  clerk  of  the  nurlin^ton  Railway  to  send  them  a 
young  fellow  to  keep  tah  on  their  refrigerator  and  other  cars. 
He  selected  his  chief  assistant  as  the  man  hest  qualihed  for  the  job. 
Within  an  hour  or  two  the  assistant  returned  from  the  stockyards. 
"If  they  offered  me  the  whole  stockyards  I  would  not  go  out  there 
to  work,"  he  declared  emphatically,  as  he  reached  out  for  his  pen 
to  resume  his  clerical  duties. 

"Will  you  let  me  go  out  and  look  it  over.?"  asked  a  nineteen-year- 
old  youth,  who  had  only  one  year's  experience.  His  superior  as- 
sented. 

Off  he  went  to  the  stockyards. 

"I  found,"  he  said,  describing  his  visit,  "that  conditions  at  the 
stockyards  were  not  exactly  salubrious.  When  you  got  there  you 
found  the  plank  roads  floating  in  mud  which  had  a  knack  of  squirting 
up  the  legs  of  your  pants  when  you  stepped  from  one  plank  to  another. 
Everything  was  rough  and  crude  and  uninviting — quite  different  from 
the  clean  and  sanitary  conditions  of  to-day. 

"Inside  Morris  &  Company's  office  the  employees  were  so  crowded 
and  huddled  together  that  they  appeared  to  be  working  one  on  top 
of  another — a  great  contrast  with  our  handsome  C.  B.  &  Q.  quarters. 

"But  there  was  no  lack  of  business.  It  looked  as  if  a  fellow  could 
find  a  lot  to  do.  I  thought  I  could  see  an  opportunity  for  any  one 
willing  to  work  and  to  stay  by  the  proposition.  The  prospects  ap- 
pealed to  me,  so  I  accepted  the  job  at  $ioo  a  month.  I  was  getting 
only  $40  a  month  from  the  railroad." 

That  was  one  day  in  1881. 

One  morning  in  the  summer  of  1916 — the  2ist  of  July — Americans 
awoke  to  find  the  name  "Wilson  &  Co.,  Successors  to  Sulzberger  & 
Sons  Company,"  blazoned  in  bold  type  in  every  newspaper,  in  sub- 
way, surface,  and  elevated  cars,  on  thousands  of  bill  boards  and  on 
hundreds  of  meat  establishments  throughout  the  country. 

"Who  is  Wilson?"  every  one  asked. 

The  public  was  curious  to  know  who  this  could  be,  this  man  whose 
name  overnight  had  displaced  that  of  a  great  concern  which  had 
been  a  household  word  and  whose  products  had  been  familiar  to 
every  American  home  for  sixty  years.     Surely  he  must  be  a  man  of 

414 


THOMAS  E.  WILSON 


THOMAS  E.  WILSON  415 

no  ordinary  reputation  and  attainment.  What  had  he  done  to 
achieve  such  distinction? 

The  man  was  the  penniless  clerk  who  was  not  afraid  of  the  stock- 
yards and  its  hard  work. 

He  was  Thomas  E.  Wilson. 

Thus  summarized  the  story  savours  of  a  fairy  tale. 

But  when  we  fill  in  the  intervening  years,  when  we  follow  the  un- 
folding of  each  development,  when  vv^e  trace  the  journey  step  by  step, 
we  find  that  there  was  nothing  dramatic,  nothing  romantic,  nothing 
extraordinary  in  it.  The  dhiouement  was  a  logical,  inevitable  se- 
quence of  what  went  before.  I  have  not  found  in  American  business 
annals  any  story  more  simple,  more  natural,  or  more  inspiring. 

I  feel  it  a  privilege  to  be  able  to  tell  the  story  in  the  words  of  the 
man  who  lived  it. 

"My  first  work  at  the  stockyards  here  was  makmg  records  of  our 
car  mileage,"  said  Mr.  Wilson  in  reply  to  my  inquiries.  "We  owned 
special  stock  cars,  refrigerator  cars,  and  others.  The  railroads  paid 
us  for  the  use  of  them.  I  didn't  stay  all  the  time  in  the  office,  but 
went  into  the  yards  and  took  an  interest  in  the  actual  handling  of  the 
cars,  became  familiar  with  the  car  repairs,  and  by  and  by  I  was  made 
superintendent  of  all  repairing  work.  I  also  had  to  purchase  the 
material  used  in  the  repair  shops.  Gradually  we  developed  into 
building  cars  for  ourselves  and  I  supervised  this  new  development. 

"I  broke  another  fellow  in  to  take  my  place,  as  I  always  had  a 
desire  to  trade,  and  I  next  took  over  the  purchasing  department  for 
the  whole  plant — buying  supplies  of  all  kinds,  machinery,  and  con- 
struction material. 

"We  were  branching  out,  and  I  took  charge  of  construction  work, 
not  only  at  the  yards,  but  was  given  the  task  of  locating  new  branch 
wholesale  establishments  elsewhere.  I  spent  one  whole  winter  with 
headquarters  in  Boston  and  covered  the  New  England  territory  with 
branches. 

"My  methods  of  going  at  it? 

"I  would  go  to  a  town,  look  it  over,  see  what  Armour  or  Swift  or 
Hammond  was  doing  there,  and  if  I  thought  the  place  would  stand 
another  plant  I  would  buy  or  rent  property.  I  would  outline  to  our 
draughting  department  the  kind  of  layout  wanted;  they  would  prepare 
a  rough  plan  and  send  it  to  me  for  revision.  After  making  such 
changes  as  circumstances  made  advisable,  the  plan  would  be  com- 
pleted and  forwarded  to  me  along  with  specifications.  I  had  three 
or  four  construction  men  with  me,  who  carried  out  the  special  work 
needed  for  our  icing  apparatus  and  other  special  equipment  called 
for  by  the  nature  of  our  business. 

"Before  the  building  was  finished  I  would  look  around  for  the  best 


4i6  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

man  I  could  find,  if  possible  a  local  man,  to  run  the  business.  When 
we  had  the  thing  safely  launched,  I  would  repeat  the  performance  in 
another  city.     I  opened  many  of  these  establishments. 

"After  I  returned  to  Chicago  and  had  taken  on  the  management 
of  important  general  construction  work  that  we  were  then  carrying 
on — we  were  growing,  of  course — Frank  Vogel,  who  was  the  '&  Com- 
pany' of  Nelson  Morris  &  Co.,  pulled  out,  and  Edward  Morris,  the 
eldest  son  of  Nelson,  who  had  been  rapidly  growing  into  the  manage- 
ment of  the  business,  took  me  into  the  office  with  him.  I  was  then 
about  thirty-two  and  Edward  Morris  was  a  little  older. 

"During  the  time  I  was  working  in  the  car  department,  the  pur- 
chasing department,  and  the  construction  department,  I  had  tried 
to  learn  as  much  as  I  could  about  the  actual  operating  of  the  plant. 
I  also  took  an  interest  in  the  selling  end.  Yes,  I  w^as  always  very 
busy — and  always  wanted  to  be  busy.  The  days  were  never  long 
enough,  although  I  ate  breakfast  at  5.30  every  morning,  caught 
the  stockyards  'dummy'  which  left  Chicago  at  six  o'clock,  and  seldom 
left  before  nine  o'clock  at  night.  In  all  the  years  I  was  with  Morris 
&  Company  I  w'as  off  only  five  days  through  illness. 

"For  fifteen  years  I  never  took  a  vacation,  nor  were  there  many 
Sundays  that  I  did  not  spend  at  least  part  of  the  day  at  the  yards. 
No,  it  was  not  laborious  at  all.  It  w^as  fascinating.  The  packing 
business  was  developing  and  there  was  always  something  new  to  be 
tackled — ^just  as  there  is  to-day. 

"Finally,  all  the  superintendents  were  put  under  me.  I  had  to 
look  after  the  manufacturing  and  operating  end  of  the  business,  in 
addition  to  supervising  the  construction  work.  I  was  never  too 
tired  to  tackle  anything.  I  tried  to  study  the  whole  business  and 
always  was  ready  to  take  on  responsibilities. 

"When  Edward  Morris  died,  over  four  years  ago,  I  was  made 
president.  It  was  his  desire  that  his  two  sons — Nelson,  who  is  now 
twenty-seven,  and  Edward,  now  about  twenty-five — should  be  trained 
to  run  the  business.  I  was  very  fond  of  him  and  was  willing  to  do 
all  I  could  to  carry  out  his  wishes.  It  was  only  right  that  the  sons 
should  succeed  their  father  and  grandfather  as  heads  of  Morris  & 
Company.  Then,  too,  my  ambition  was  not  to  remain  merely  an 
employee  all  my  life.  As  president  I  was,  of  course,  on  a  very  good 
salary,  and  had  acquired  an  interest  in  a  number  of  outside  things. 

"One  day  in  the  fall  of  1915  I  received  a  telephone  message  from 
the  Blackstone  Hotel  from  two  New  York  bankers,  who  said  they 
wanted  to  see  me.  I  had  a  long  talk  with  them.  They  wanted  to 
engage  me — at  any  salary  I  wanted  to  name — to  take  charge  of 
Sulzberger  &  Sons  Company.  Ferdinand  Sulzberger  had  died  two 
years  before,  after  having  been  incapacitated  for  several  years,  and 


THOMAS  E.  WILSON  417 

the  business  was  being  run  by  his  sons,  Max  and  Germon  Sulzberger. 
They  had  made  a  deal  for  the  refinancing  of  the  concern  by  New  York 
banking  interests,  including  the  Chase  National  Bank,  the  Guaranty 
Trust  Company,  William  Salomon  &  Company,  and  Hallgarten  & 
Company.  These  interests,  the  two  bankers  told  me,  had  now  se- 
cured control  of  Sulzberger  &  Sons  Company  and  wanted  to  have  it 
built  up  and  developed  in  the  best  way  possible.  After  proper  con- 
sideration, I  felt  compelled  to  turn  down  their  proposition. 

"One  day  shortly  after  I  had  rejected  the  offer  of  the  presidency 
of  Sulzberger  &  Sons  Company,  I  met  a  friend  in  Chicago  who  hailed 
me  with:     'So  you  are  going  with  Sulzberger's.' 

"'No,  that's  all  off,' I  told  him. 

"'Oh,  yes,  you  are,'  he  came  back.  'I  was  talking  with  some  New 
York  bankers  and  they  told  me  you  were  to  make  the  change  but  that 
you  didn't  knozu  it  yourself  yet.     They  told  me  they  would  get  you  yet.' 

"They  did.  They  worked  out  a  proposition,  giving  me  a  very 
substantial  interest  in  the  business  and  everything  else  I  wanted. 
They  were  very  liberal.     And  so  here  I  am." 

And  now  you  know  exactly  the  story  behind  the  change  in  control 
of  one  of  the  half-dozen  greatest  packing  houses  in  the  country  from 
"Sulzberger  &  Sons  Company"  to  "Wilson  &  Company."  What  has 
not  been  told  is  the  estimation  in  which  Thomas  E.  Wilson  is  held 
by  his  fellow  packers  and  his  other  friends. 

He  is  the  most  natural,  unaffected  man  imaginable.  He  is  a  giant 
physically  and  mentally.  There  are  no  hard  lines  in  his  face  and  his 
large  blue  eyes  reveal  a  kindly  heart  rather  than  suggest  a  cold, 
shrewd,  business  mentality. 

"To  what  do  you  chiefly  attribute  your  wonderful  success?"  I 
asked  Mr.  Wilson. 

"I  am  no  wonder,"  he  rebuked  me.  "I  am  no  brainier  or  wiser 
than  any  number  of  other  people.  My  whole  success  is  traceable 
to  the  fact  that  I  have  enjoyed  my  work  and  have  given  to  it  the 
best  in  me.  No  job  ever  was  too  big  for  me  to  tackle.  That  is  the 
foundation  of  success  nine  times  out  of  ten — having  confidence  in 
yourself  and  applying  yourself  with  all  your  might  to  your  work. 

"Too  many  men  try  to  travel  on  a  reputation.  They  stand  upon 
their  past  achievements  rather  than  daily  press  on  toward  further 
achievements.  You  cannot  stake  your  future  on  the  past,  but  on  the 
present.  A  fellow  must  throw  his  whole  energy  into  everything  he 
undertakes  and  feel  keenly  that  on  this  one  thing,  whatever  it  be  he 
is  doing,  depends  his  whole  future." 

Mr.  Wilson  always  had  an  eye  to  business — even  when  on  his 
honeymoon.  He  saw  in  Brooklyn  on  that  occasion  a  piece  of  property 
that  impressed  him  and  he  immediately  went  and  opened  negotiations 


4i8  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

for  its  purchase.  It  proved  one  of  the  most  profitable  trades  in  his 
whole  life. 

He  was  fortunate  in  marrying  Miss  Elizabeth  L.  Foss  of  Chicago, 
who  proved  not  merely  in  name  but  in  deed  a  helpmate.  She  en- 
thusiastically entered  into  his  ambitions  and  gladly  sacrificed  her 
own  comfort  and  convenience  for  the  sake  of  his  success.  Social 
plans  were  never  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  business  activities. 
He  was  thirty-one  when  he  married  and  already  enjoying  a  high 
salary,  but  both  agreed  to  undergo  whatever  self-sacrifice  might  be 
necessary  to  meet  business  demands,  no  matter  how  unexpected  or 
how  far  they  might  suddenly  take  him  from  home.  In  other  words, 
Mrs.  Wilson,  like  her  husband,  was  willing  to  pay  the  price  of  suc- 
cess. 

And  now  their  success — Mr.  Wilson  regards  it  as  a  joint  accom- 
plishment— is  permitting  them  to  fulfil  an  ambition.  They  have 
secured  a  300-acre  farm  at  Lake  Forest,  where  both  can  indulge  their 
fondness  for  horses  and  cattle.  Mr,  Wilson  is  carrying  out  certain 
theories  of  his  own  concerning  the  best  methods  of  raising  food  cattle. 
The  only  luxury  he  allowed  himself  in  his  early  days  was  a  horse. 
To-day  he  keeps  a  string  of  just  the  kind  of  saddle  horses  his  fancy 
favours.  His  17-year-old  daughter,  Helen,  and  his  12-year-old 
son,  Edward,  have  inherited  this  same  taste,  and  the  Wilson  family 
often  may  be  seen  galloping  along  the  Lake  Forest  country  roads  of 
an  early  morning. 

When  he  plays,  he  plays  as  hard  as  he  works.  After  having  worked 
all  summer  at  reorganizing  the  company  and  getting  its  various 
plants  running  in  the  way  he  desired,  Mr.  Wilson  took  his  first  vaca- 
tion in  a  long  while,  spending  three  weeks  in  the  wilds  of  New  Mexico 
on  a  hunting  trip.  During  that  time  he  was  completely  out  of  touch 
with  his  office — which  shows  how  well  he  knows  and  trusts  his  really 
remarkable  organization. 

Thomas  E.  Wilson  has  risen  without  outside  aid.  He  was  born  in 
London,  Ontario,  on  July  22,  1868,  but  the  family,  of  Scots-Irish 
extraction,  moved  to  Chicago  when  he  was  nine  years  old.  His  father 
made  a  moderate  fortune  in  drilling  oil  wells  and  running  a  refinery, 
but  met  with  a  reverse  which  prevented  him  from  sending  Thomas 
to  college.  After  passing  through  the  primary  and  high  schools  in 
Chicago,  the  boy  had  to  look  for  and  find  a  job  for  himself.  He 
hunted  quite  a  while  before  finding  an  opening  in  the  office  of  the 
Chicago,  Burlington  &  Quincy  Railroad's  headquarters. 

When,  on  his  own  initiative,  as  already  told,  he  secured  a  clerical 
position  with  Morris  &  Company,  he  did  not  know  a  single  soul 
identified  with  the  packing  trade.  To-day  Thomas  E.  Wilson  is 
universally  considered  to  be  without  a   superior   as   an   all-round, 


THOMAS  E.  WILSON  419 

practical  packer,  capable  of  showing  any  one  of  thousands  of  em- 
ployees how  to  do  a  task. 

Not  one  person  in  Chicago,  not  one  fellow-worker  or  one  packer, 
grudges  Mr.  Wilson  his  phenomenal  success.  As  president  of  Morris 
&  Company  he  fought  competitors  fairly  and  squarely  and  treated 
his  workmen  the  way  he  himself  was  treated  by  Morris  &  Company. 
His  advent  as  the  head  of  the  old-established  Sulzberger  organization, 
reorganized  as  Wilson  &  Company,  was  hailed  with  genuine  satisfac- 
tion by  every  workman  and  every  employer  in  the  meat  business. 
In  this  case  success  begot  no  envy.  Every  one  familiar  with  the  stock- 
yards felt  that  what  happened  could  not  well  not  have  happened — or 
that  if  it  hadn't  happened  the  way  it  did,  it  would  have  happened  some 
other  way. 

It  was  inevitable  that  Thomas  E.  Wilson  should  rise  to  the  very 
top. 

Mr.  Wilson's  latest  achievement  is  the  establishment  of  a  sporting- 
goods  business  doing  a  nation-wide  trade.  Its  products  are  of  such 
quality  that  he  is  not  afraid  to  stamp  them  with  the  Wilson  trade- 
mark and  Wilson  guarantee. 

My  prediction  is  that,  high  up  as  he  already  is,  Thomas  E.  Wilson 
will  go  farther  still. 


FRANK  W.  WOOLWORTH 

A  BAREFOOTED  American  farm  lad  made  up  his  mind  that 
he  would  rather  work  behind  a  counter  than  behind  the  plow. 
He  was  so  green  and  gawky  and  awkward,  so  palpably  a 
"hayseed,"  that,  try  as  he  might,  no  merchant  would  engage  him  at 
any  wage.  But  the  boy  had  such  determination  and  doggedness 
that  he  agreed  to  serve  for  nothing,  living  meanwhile  on  his  pain- 
fully earned  capital  of  $50.  So  complete  a  failure  did  he  prove  at 
selling  goods  that  in  his  next  job  his  small  pay  was  reduced  instead  of 
increased.  But,  though  he  agreed  with  his  boss  that  he  was  a  misfit 
as  a  salesman,  he  did  not  give  in.     He  stuck. 

To-day  he  is  the  largest  retail  merchant  in  the  world. 

Here  are  some  of  his  1916  sales:  50,000,000  pairs  of  hosiery, 
89,000,000  pounds  of  candy,  20,000,000  sheets  of  music,  12,000,000 
pounds  of  salted  peanuts,  6,250,000  neckties,  42,000,000  boxes  of 
safety  matches;  9,000,000  domestic  toys;  21,000,000  sticks  of  chewing 
gum;  1,700,000  nursing  bottles;  15,000,000  cakes  of  soap;  5,000,000 
phonograph  records;  5,000,000  papers  of  hairpins;  5,500,000  rolls  of 
wax  paper — enough  to  wrap  sufficient  sandwiches  to  feed  170,000,000 
people;  5,000,000  papers  of  common  pins;  2,250,000  boxes  of  crochet 
and  embroidery  cottons. 

Also: 

His  customers  exceeded  700,000,000,  a  daily  average  of  over 
2,250,000. 

Sales — all  over  the  counter;  no  orders  are  filled  by  mail — exceeded 
$87,000,000  and  in  191 7  are  running  at  the  rate  of  $100,000,000,  rep- 
resenting about  1,500,000,000  distinct  and  separate  transactions. 

He  owns  a  store  in  every  town  in  the  United  States  of  8,000  popu- 
lation or  more. 

His  stores  in  the  United  States  and  Canada  aggregated  920  on 
January  i,  1917. 

He  controls  seventy-five  stores  in  Great  Britain  and  plans  to  estab- 
lish hundreds  throughout  Europe. 

He  employs  between  30,000  and  50,000  men  and  women  inhis  stores. 

His  organization  is  capitalized  at  $65,000,000 — and  has  a  market 
value  of  millions  more. 

He  is  the  sole  owner  of  the  highest  building  in  the  world,  792 
feet  high,  for  which  he  paid  $14,000,000  cash  out  of  his  own  pocket. 

420 


F.  W.  wool. WOR 111 


FRANK  W.  WOOLWORTH  421 

Now  you  know  who  this  is. 

"What  is  your  ambition?"  I  asked  Frank  W.  Woolworth,  creator 
of  the  5-  and  lo-cent  store. 

"To  open  a  store  in  every  civilized  town  throughout  the  world," 
came  the  reply. 

And  when  Frank  Woolworth  sets  his  heart  upon  doing  a  thing  he 
usually  does  it,  no  matter  how  numerous  or  how  enormous  the  diffi- 
culties, how  severe  the  discouragements,  or  how  complete  initial 
failures. 

"What  is  your  guiding  business  policy?"  I  queried. 

"I  look  always  ten  to  fifty  years  ahead  and  plan  accordingly." 

"And  your  basic  principles?" 

"Give  the  people  such  value  that  they  will  save  money  by  trading 
with  you;  and  treat  your  employees  so  well  that  they  will  give  your 
customers  satisfactory  service.     Volume  makes  for  economy." 

"What  was  your  first  important  discovery  that  contributed  to 


your  success 


"When  I  lost  my  conceit  that  nobody  could  do  anything  as  well  as 
I  could  myself,  and  learned  to  entrust  duties  to  other  people.  So 
long  as  I  was  obsessed  with  the  idea  that  I  must  attend  personally  to 
everything,  large-scale  success  was  impossible.  A  man  must  select 
able  lieutenants  or  associates  and  give  them  power  and  responsi- 
bility— and  we  have  the  best  business  men  in  the  world.  They  are 
all  alive  and  know  the  business  thoroughly." 

"How  do  you  keep  in  touch  with  900  stores  and  how  do  you 
analyze  where  new  stores  should  be  opened?"  I  next  asked. 

"We  maintain  our  own  census  all  over  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  It  is  kept  up  to  date  so  that  we  know  continually  just 
which  towns  are  growing,  which  ones  are  standing  still,  and  which 
ones  are  dwindling.  Every  movement  of  people  is  reported  to  us 
and  we  try  to  diagnose  coming  developments.  For  example,  when 
the  United  States  Steel  Corporation  decided  to  build  at  Gary,  Ind., 
we  went  in  before  fifty  houses  had  been  erected  there,  secured  the 
most  desirable  location,  and  waited  for  the  population  to  come. 
Now  we  have  two  very  large  and  very  successful  stores  there.  It 
was  easy  to  foresee  what  was  coming.  Then,  by  bringing  together 
every  month  representatives  from  each  of  the  nine  districts  into  which 
the  United  States  and  Canada  are  divided,  we  keep  posted  on  what 
is  doing  throughout  the  whole  territory.  We  maintain  a  sort  of  day- 
to-day  history  of  the  two  countries.  Organization  and  cooperation 
largely  explain  our  success." 

"Isn't  your  purchase  of  a  large  site  directly  opposite  the  Public 
Library  on  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  in  the  very  heart  of  the  fashion- 
able district,  a  distinct  innovation,  an  entirely  new  departure  in 


422  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

the  development  of  your  business?"  I  remarked  to  Mr.  Woolworth, 
touching  a  subject  upon  which  the  newspapers  had  been  commenting, 
not  to  say  criticizing,  very  freely. 

"We  do  things  as  big  as  that  any  day,"  Mr.  Woolworth  replied 
somewhat  impatiently.  "The  trouble  is  that  the  people  in  New  York 
don't  take  a  sufficiently  broad  view.  A  few  years  from  now  Fifth 
Avenue  will  be  like  State  Street,  Chicago.  There  are  more  depart- 
ment stores  on  State  Street  and  a  greater  volume  of  business  done 
there  than  on  Fifth  Avenue.  Our  Fifth  Avenue  store  will  be  less 
costly  than  some  of  our  others.  We  established  a  store  seven  years 
ago  in  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia,  the  most  exclusive  high-price 
street  in  this  countr\s  our  store  is  right  next  to  Caldwell  &  Company, 
the  Tiffany's  of  Philadelphia,  and  it  has  been  very  profitable.  The 
same  thing  applies  to  Washington  Street,  Boston;  Market  Street, 
San  Francisco;  and  Washington  Avenue,  St.  Louis.  Many  people 
imagine  that  only  the  poorer  classes  patronize  the  5.-  and  locent 
stores.  That  was  true  up  to  about  fifteen  years  ago,  but  since  then 
all  classes  have  come  to  our  stores  in  increasing  numbers. 

"The  other  evening  the  wife  of  one  of  the  best-known  lawyers  in 
New  York  told  me  that  she  visited  our  Sixth  Avenue  store  every 
week  and  bought  things  for  herself,  her  children,  and  grandchildren, 
her  purchases  in  a  year  having  totalled  over  $600.  This  is  by  no 
means  an  exceptional  case.  We  can  sell  cheaper  than  the  department 
stores  because  of  the  tremendous  quantities  we  buy.  More  and  more 
every  year  we  are  taking  the  complete  output  of  manufacturers  of 
different  kinds  of  goods;  by  keeping  their  plants  running  on  full  time 
from  beginning  to  end  of  the  year  on  one  thing,  the  cost  of  production 
is  reduced  to  the  minimum,  so  that  there  are  many  articles  we  can 
sell  at  10  cents  which  cost  25  cents  or  more  in  other  stores.  Then  our 
overhead  charge,  when  distributed  over  900  stores,  becomes  only  a 
very  small  percentage." 

When  I  asked  one  of  Mr.  Woolworth's  closest  business  associates 
what  the  former's  most  conspicuous  qualities  were,  his  prompt  reply 
was:  "Foresight — this  is  what  continually  astonishes  every  one 
around  him.  Next  I  would  name  his  courage.  Then  he  has  always 
been  a  bulldog  for  work,  and  has  the  faculty  of  inspiring  others 
with  the  hard-work  spirit.  The  loyalty  of  his  employees,  the  reward 
of  generous,  considerate  treatment,  has  contributed  greatly  to  the 
growth  of  the  business." 

Like  Ford,  Woolworth  has  a  strong  aversion  to  borrowing  money. 
He  gave  a  note  for  $300  for  goods  to  stock  his  first  store,  but  since  he 
paid  that  off  he  has  scarcely  borrowed  a  dollar.  There  is  not  a  cent 
of  mortgage  on  the  sixty-story  Woolworth  Building,  nor  is  any  bank 
in  a  position  to  embarrass  him  by  calling  upon  him  to  pay  off  loans. 


FRANK  W.  WOOLWORTH  423 

He  could  have  expanded  faster  had  he  accepted  borrowed  capital 
in  his  eariier  days,  but  he  preferred  to  forge  ahead  slowly  but  surely 
on  his  own  capital  rather  than  rapidly  or  recklessly  on  borrowed 
funds. 

Both  Woolworth  and  Ford  foresaw  the  infinite  possibilities  of  sup- 
plying the  multitude  with  meritorious  but  low-priced  articles.  Each 
realized  that  the  road  to  millionairedom  lay  through  system  and 
volume.  Each  encountered  heart-breaking  obstacles  at  the  start; 
each  was  handicapped  inordinately  through  lack  of  funds;  each 
exercised  extraordinary  determination,  patience,  and  perseverance, 
and  each  had  an  abhorrence  of  placing  himself  or  his  business 
at  the  mercy  of  bankers  or  financiers.  Each  triumphed  in  his  own 
line  on  a  scale  not  equalled  by  any  other  human  being.  Each,  also, 
still  has  unattained  ambitions,  so  unlimited  is  their  imagination. 
Each  has  not  only  become  the  most  notable  figure  in  his  own  line 
in  the  United  States,  but  each  has  invaded  foreign  countries  as  part 
of  a  common  plan  to  cover  the  whole  earth.  Each  has  graduated  from 
impecunious  farm  boy  to  multi-millionaire. 

One  difference  is  that  Ford  is  a  manufacturer,  Woolworth  is  not — 
**We  don't  manufacture  a  single  article  and  don't  intend  to,"  Mr. 
Woolworth  declares. 

How  did  Frank  W.  Woolworth  "get  there".? 

This  is  the  first  time  Mr.  Woolworth  has  been  persuaded  to  tell 
in  detail  his  early  struggles.  He  dislikes  talking  about  himself,  but 
was  finally  induced  to  relate  his  early  hardships  solely  because  of  the 
inspiration  and  encouragement  the  story  might  afford  thousands  of 
other  young  men  now  fighting  an  uphill  battle  against  heart-breaking 
odds.  Once  started,  Mr.  Woolworth  talked  with  the  utmost  frank- 
ness, describing  his  awkwardness  and  his  initial  failures  without  minc- 
ing words,  glossing  over  nothing.  He  portrayed  neither  hero  nor 
martyr.  He  simply  narrated  just  what  he  went  through.  Biography 
contains  no  more  typically  American  experience. 

Here  is  an  unadorned  transcript  of  Mr.  Woolworth's  own  conversa- 
tional account  of  his  struggles,  ambitions,  failures,  and  ultimate 
triumph: 

"I  did  not  have  to  overcome  any  handicap  of  inherited  wealth 
which  usually  takes  all  ambition  for  achievement  out  of  a  young  man. 
I  inherited  great  physical  advantages  because  my  ancestors  on  both 
sides  had  been  yeomanry  for  generations — since  1450,  the  genealogists 
tell  me.  I  was  born  on  a  farm  at  Rodman,  upstate  (New  York), 
but  we  moved  to  Great  Bend,  N.  Y.,  when  I  Vv'as  seven  years  old. 
We  were  poor — so  poor  that  I  never  knew  what  it  was  to  have  an 
overcoat  in  that  terribly  cold  climate.  I  never  knew  how  to  skate 
because  I  hadn't  the  money  to  buy  skates.     One  pair  of  cowhide 


424  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

boots  lasted  a  year,  or  rather  six  months,  for  the  other  six  months  I 
went  barefooted.  My  parents  and  my  forbears,  for  I  don't  know 
how  far  back,  were  Methodists,  and  I  was  brought  up  under  the 
strictest  discipline — dancing  would  have  been  a  sin. 

"I  attended  school  in  the  wincer  and  worked  all  summer.  There 
isn't  a  thing  on  the  farm  that  I  haven't  done.  Often  while  I  was 
sweating  in  the  hayfield,  I  could  hear  the  boys  near  by  playing  base- 
ball, but  the  only  chance  I  ever  had  of  playing  ball  was  during  the 
recess  at  school  in  winter.  It  is  a  great  advantage  for  a  boy  to  start 
on  a  farm,  not  only  for  the  sake  of  his  constitution,  but  on  the  farm 
you  learn  very  little  of  what  is  going  on  in  the  world;  not  like  the 
young  man  born  in  the  city  who  sees  too  much  and  knows  more  than 
is  good  for  him. 

"After  leaving  the  public  school,  at  sixteen,  I  took  two  winter 
sessions  in  a  commercial  college  at  Watertown,  as  it  had  always  been 
my  ambition  cither  to  become  an  engineer  on  the  railroad  or  to  get 
into  business — behind  the  counter.  My  younger  brother  and  I  often 
took  the  old  dining-room  table,  set  it  against  the  wall,  ransacked  the 
house  for  things  to  put  on  it,  and  then  played  at  keeping  store.  How 
I  envied  the  young  fellow  behind  the  counter  in  the  village  store! 
The  farm  never  appealed  to  me — the  only  people  farming  appeals  to, 
as  a  rule,  are  city  folk — and  they  make  poor  farmers. 

"After  my  commercial  course,  I  tried  my  best  to  get  into  a  store. 
I  hitched  the  old  mare  to  a  cutter,  went  to  Carthage,  about  seven 
miles  away,  and  called  at  store  after  store  looking  for  a  job.  Nobody 
would  have  me;  some  of  them  would  not  even  talk  to  me.  But  this 
only  made  me  more  determined  to  get  into  a  store. 

"The  station  master  at  Great  Bend  kept  a  two-by-four  grocery 
store  in  a  corner  of  the  freight  shed,  and  I  decided  to  work  for  him 
just  to  get  the  experience  in  selling  goods  and  also  selling  tickets, 
making  out  reports,  and  the  other  simple  office  work  that  had  to  be 
done  there.  I  became  assistant  station  master — without  pay.  That 
was  the  nearest  I  ever  got  to  fulfilling  my  boyhood  ambition  of  be- 
coming a  railroad  engineer. 

"You  will  notice,  however,  that  I  was  willing  to  work  without 
pay  because  of  the  chance  to  get  experience  and  learn  how  to  do 
things.  Not  many  young  men  to-day  care  to  do  this — they  want  to 
pick  out  a  job  that  will  pay  them  most  at  the  start,  a  short-sighted 
policy. 

"Although  our  sales  of  groceries  in  the  freight  shed  averaged  only 
about  $2  a  day,  the  job  had  this  advantage:  I  got  to  know  not  only 
everybody  who  came  to  the  station,  but  a  good  many  of  the  people 
who  travelled  up  and  down  the  line — it  was  less  than  fifty  miles  long 
and  is  now  a  part  of  the  New  York  Central  system.     To  get  on  in 


FRANK  W.  WOOLWORTH  425 

the  world  it  is  very  important  to  make  as  wide  a  circle  of  acquaintances 
and  friends  as  possible  and  let  them  know  what  you  are  capable  of 
doing. 

"All  this  time  I  was  persistently  trying  to  get  into  a  regular  store. 
My  younger  brother  was  now  able  to  do  the  work  on  the  farm,  so 
that  I  simply  had  to  make  a  move  and  shift  for  myself.  An  uncle 
agreed  to  pay  me  ^18  a  month  with  board  and  lodging  to  come  and 
work  on  his  farm,  but,  although  that  seemed  a  lot  of  money  and  there 
was  nothing  else  of  any  kind  in  sight,  I  resolved  to  make  one  supreme 
effort  to  land  behind  the  counter,  no  matter  how  small  the  pay,  so 
long  as  I  could  keep  body  and  soul  together.  By  this  time  I  was 
nearing  twenty-one,  so  that  I  had  no  early  start  in  business. 

"Daniel  McNeil,  who  ran  the  country  store  at  Great  Bend,  know- 
ing how  eager  I  was  to  get  into  a  store,  said  he  would  let  me  work  for 
him  and  give  me  the  same  food  to  eat  that  they  put  on  his  own  table, 
but  that  he  couldn't  afford  to  pay  me  any  wages.  He  said,  however, 
that  he  would  try  his  best  to  find  a  job  for  me  in  Watertown  or  Car- 
thage, where  the  prospects  would  be  better.  I  never  forgot  his 
kindness.  Some  people  after  they  succeed  forget  those  who  helped 
them  to  get  a  start  in  life.  I  never  have;  I  remember  every  person 
who  ever  said  a  kind  word  to  me  or  helped  me  in  any  way  during  those 
days  of  struggle. 

"Every  day  Mr.  McNeil  went  to  town  I  would  go  and  see  him  in 
the  evening  to  find  out  the  news.  One  day  he  told  me  a  man  who 
kept  a  clothing  store  in  Watertown  would  like  to  see  me  and  asked  me 
how  I  would  like  that  kind  of  a  job.  I  said,  'This  is  fine,'  but  down 
in  my  heart  I  didn't  want  to  get  into  the  clothing  business  at  all. 
But  situated  as  I  was,  I  was  ready  to  clutch  at  anything.  It  was  a 
good  store,  but  the  best  one  in  Watertown  was  the  store  of  Augsbury 
&  Moore,  dry-goods  merchants,  and  Mr.  McNeil  asked  me  to  wait  a 
few  days  until  he  could  see  if  he  could  not  place  me  there.  I  told  him 
that  would  be  the  height  of  my  ambition — to  get  into  such  a  dry-goods 
store. 

"I  could  hardly  wait  for  Mr.  McNeil's  return  from  Watertown. 
I  was  overjoyed  when  he  told  me  that  Mr.  Augsbury  had  agreed  to 
look  me  over.  Next  day,  you  may  be  sure,  I  was  in  Watertown. 
This  was  in  the  middle  of  March,  1S73. 

"When  I  went  into  the  store  they  told  me  Mr.  Augsbury  was  at 
home,  sick,  but  I  asked  where  he  lived  and  made  straight  for  his 
house.  He  greeted  me  with  'Hello,  Bub.  What  do  you  want — a 
job?'  I  was  a  thin,  emaciated  blond  in  those  days,  and  I  was  wear- 
ing farmer's  clothes.  He  immediately  fired  such  questions  at  me  as: 
'Do  you  drink.'"  'Do  you  smoke?'  'What  do  you  do  that's  bad?* 
I  told  him  I  went  to  church  every  Sunday  and  didn't  live  in  a  locality 


426  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

where  they  did  very  bad  things.  My  heart  fell  when  he  declared: 
'You  are  too  green;  you  have  had  no  experience/  He  added,  how- 
ever, that  he  would  be  in  the  store  in  the  afternoon  and  that  I  might 
go  and  see  Mr.  Moore.  Mr.  Moore  proved  very  discouraging. 
Finally,  they  both  cross-examined  me  together.  I  imagine  I  was 
about  the  greenest  fellow  who  ever  came  off  a  farm.  They  did  not 
try  to  hide  their  opinion  that  I  had  probably  no  ability  at  all.  To 
discourage  me  entirely,  Mr.  Moore  said  to  me:  *  If  there  is  any  mean 
work  to  be  done  in  the  store  you  will  have  to  do  it.  You  will  have 
to  deliver  packages,  wash  windows,  get  down  early  in  the  morning 
and  sweep  the  floor,  do  all  the  other  cleaning,  and  any  other  dirty 
work  that  needs  to  be  done.  And  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  we 
trust  you  to  wait  on  a  customer.  It  will  be  the  hardest  work  you 
have  ever  had  in  your  life.* 

"'I  guess  I  can  do  it,'  I  replied.     'What  are  you  going  to  pay  me?' 

"*You  don't  expect  any  pay,  do  you.f"  Mr.  Moore  flashed  at 
me. 

*'T  don't  see  how  I  am  going  to  live  without  pay,'  I  explained. 

"'That  doesn't  interest  us,'  he  snapped  back.  'You  should  work 
a  whole  year  for  nothing,  as  a  schooling.  You  have  to  pay  tuition 
when  you  go  to  school.     We  will  not  ask  you  any  tuition  fee.' 

"Imagine  my  predicament.  When  everything  seemed  within  my 
reach,  suddenly  it  was  knocked  on  the  head.  Here  I  was,  willing  to 
do  anything  and  everything,  but  I  could  not  live  on  nothing.  He  was 
just  about  to  turn  me  down  when  I  said:  'Wait  a  minute;  how  long 
have  I  to  work  for  nothing  .f" 

"'At  least  six  months,'  he  said. 

"I  asked  him  to  wait  until  I  could  find  out  how  little  I  could  get 
board  for,  and  back  I  came  in  an  hour  and  told  him  that  I  could  get 
a  place  for  $3.50  a  week  and  that  in  ten  years  I  had  saved  ^50 — all 
the  capital  I  had  of  any  kind,  shape,  or  form.  I  said  I  was  anxious 
to  meet  them  half-way  and  that  I  would  gladly  work  for  nothing  for 
the  first  three  months  providing  they  would  pay  me  $3.50  for  the 
second  three  months.  They  declared  these  terms  were  unreasonable, 
that  I  should  have  to  pay  for  my  education.  I  held  out,  however, 
and  finally  they  gave  in,  saying,  'We  will  give  you  a  trial  to  see  if  you 
are  any  good.'  They  told  me  to  come  the  next  Monday  morning, 
but  I  explained  that  I  couldn't  get  to  the  store  very  early  as  I  would 
ride  down  with  my  father  who  was  to  bring  in  a  load  of  potatoes  and 
thus  save  33  cents  railroad  fare. 

"Leaving  my  father  and  mother  and  home  to  strike  out  into  the 
world,  to  tackle  an  uncertainty  all  alone,  was  the  saddest  experience 
of  my  whole  Ufe.  It  was  the  24th  day  of  March,  1873,  bitterly  cold, 
with  three  feet  of  snow  on  the  ground,  but  as  the  sleigh  drove  away 


FRANK  W.  WOOL  WORTH  427 

I  could  see  my  mother  standing  at  the  door  and  she  stood  there  as 
long  as  I  was  in  sight. 

"After  struggling  to  get  a  heavy  load  of  potatoes  through  snow- 
banks, we  arrived  at  Watertown  about  half-past  ten.  I  left  my  little 
bag  of  clothes  at  my  boarding  place — there  were  no  such  things  as 
dress  suit  cases  in  those  days — and  reported  for  duty.  Mr.  Augsbury 
was  the  first  one  I  encountered. 

"Bub,  don't  they  wear  any  collars  in  your  neighbourhood?'  was 
how  he  greeted  me.  I  replied, 'No.*  *  No  neckties  either?'  I  again 
replied,  'No.'  'Is  this  old  flannel  shirt  the  best  you  have  to  wear?' 
he  next  asked.  'Yes,  sir,'  I  replied.  'Well,  you'd  better  go  out  and 
get  a  white  shirt  and  a  collar  and  a  tie  before  you  begin  work. 

"I  went  and  got  properly  rigged  up,  and  shortly  after  I  got  back 
to  the  store  Mr.  Augsbury  went  to  lunch.  Nobody  told  me  what  to 
do.  I  hung  around,  feeling  foolish,  waiting  for  something  to  do.  The 
clerks  stared  at  me  and  sneered  at  me — I  was  a  boob  from  the  country 
accustomed  to  wearing  nothing  but  old  flannel  shirts  without  collar 
or  tie.  At  least,  I  imagined  that  was  what  they  were  thinking — and 
they  afterward  told  me  that  that  was  exactly  their  sizing  up  of  me. 
When  most  of  the  clerks  had  gone  to  dinner — lunch,  as  we  call  it 
nowadays — in  came  an  old  farmer  and  said  to  me:  'Young  man,  I 
want  a  spool  of  thread.'  I  didn't  know  where  they  kept  the  thread, 
so  I  went  over  to  Mr.  Moore,  who  was  busy  at  his  desk,  and  asked 
him.  'Right  in  front  of  your  nose,  young  man,'  he  snapped  without 
looking  up  from  his  writing.  I  pulled  out  a  drawer  directly  in  front 
of  me  and  sure  enough  found  it  full  of  spools  of  thread.  'I  want 
number  40,'  said  the  farmer.  I  never  knew  till  that  moment  that 
thread  had  a  number.  I  fumbled  all  around  the  drawer  looking  for 
number  40,  but  could  not  find  it.  I  appealed  to  Mr.  Moore  to  know 
if  we  kept  number  40.  'Certainly;  right  in  the  drawer  in  front  of 
you,'  he  said  quite  sharply.  I  had  to  tell  him,  'I  can't  find  any.' 
'Just  as  I  expected,'  he  said  testily  as  he  got  down  from  his  desk 
and  showed  me  the  right  kind  of  thread.  He  immediately  returned 
to  his  desk. 

"'How  much  is  it,  young  man?'  asked  the  farmer.  I  had  to  turn 
once  more  to  Mr.  Moore.  It  was  eight  cents.  The  farmer  pulled 
out  a  ten-cent  shinplaster.  'Mr.  Moore,  where  do  I  get  change?'  I 
had  to  ask.  'Come  right  up  to  the  desk  and  make  out  a  ticket,'  he 
ordered  me.  I  picked  up  one  of  the  blanks  and  studied  it  all  over  to 
see  what  I  could  do  with  it.  But  I  was  stumped.  'Mr.  Moore,  I 
don't  believe  I  know  how  to  make  this  out,'  I  had  to  confess.  'Hand 
it  to  me;  I  will  show  you,'  he  replied.  Next  I  had  to  ask:  'Where  do 
I  get  my  change?'  'There's  the  cashier  right  there,  can't  you  see 
him?'  he  said  impatiently. 


428  IVEEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

"No  sooner  had  the  farmer  gone  out  than  another  came  in  with 
the  request:  'I  want  a  pair  of  mittens.'  'Mr.  Moore,  have  we  got 
any  mittens.'**  I  had  to  ask.  'Hanging  right  up  in  front  of  your  nose, 
young  man,'  was  his  reply.  And  there  they  were,  although  I  hadn't 
noticed  them.  The  farmer,  after  a  lot  of  fingering  and  trying  on, 
selected  an  old-fashioned  homemade  woollen  pair.  'How  much.?'  he 
asked.  I  told  him  I  didn't  know,  but  I  called  over  to  Mr.  Moore, 
'How  much  are  these  mittens?'  Mr.  Moore  by  this  time  had  had 
about  enough  of  my  interruptions.  He  replied  impatiently,  'Look 
at  the  ticket;  can't  you  see  the  ticket  on  there?'  The  ticket  said 
25  cents  and  in  payment  the  farmer  pulled  out  a  $1  bill. 

"This  time  I  knew  how  to  make  out  a  check  and  where  to  get 
change,  so  that  I  finished  the  transaction  without  bothering  Mr.  Moore 
any  more.  I  also  learned  where  to  find  the  price  ticket  on  merchan- 
dise.    I  was  keeping  my  eyes  open  as  best  I  could. 

"  But  as  time  passed,  never  once  did  I  receive  one  word  of  sympathy 
or  encouragement  from  a  single  soul.  I  didn't  know  whether  I  was 
pleasing  or  not,  and,  in  order  to  find  out,  I  went  to  the  proprietors  one 
day  and  told  them  that  selling  goods  didn't  seem  to  be  in  my  line, 
and  that  I  didn't  seem  to  be  able  to  learn  the  business  properly.  I 
had  no  idea  of  leaving  but  simply  was  hungry  for  a  little  encourage- 
ment. Instead,  I  received  the  reply:  'If  you  don't  think  you  are 
going  to  succeed,  you  had  better  quit.'  But  I  didn't  quit.  I  held  on, 
even  though  the  other  clerks  made  my  life  miserable  by  constantly 
poking  fun  at  my  ignorance  and  by  always  keeping-  me  in  the  back 
of  the  store  so  that  I  had  little  opportunity  to  wait  on  customers 
except  at  dinner  time.  Only  one  treated  me  with  any  consideration, 
a  young  fellow  named  Barrett,  who  later  became  a  very  wealthy 
merchant.  We  remained  great  friends  right  up  until  his  death  a  little 
while  ago. 

"I  was  determined  to  stick.  I  tried  to  analyze  my  abilities,  and 
my  conclusions  were  that  I  was  a  very  poor  salesman  but  that  I  could 
trim  up  the  store,  display  the  goods,  and  dress  windows  quite  well.  I 
realized  that  Mr.  Moore  had.  spoken,  the  truth  when  he  told  me  I 
would  not  be  worth  anything  the  first  year.  I  couldn't  meet  custom- 
ers and  sell  goods  to  them  the  way  a  good  salesman  could  do  it. 
But  by  and  by  when  anything  had  to  be  fitted  up  in  good  shape,  I 
noticed  that  they  came  to  me  to  do  it. 

"At  the  end  of  two  and  a  half  years — the  name  of  the  firm  mean- 
while had  been  changed  to  Moore  &  Smith — I  was  getting  only  ^6  a 
week,  and  when  I  heard  of  a  vacancy  in  another  store  I  went  to  apply. 
But  when  I  saw  how  higgledy-piggledy  everything  was  in  the  store, 
I  decided  to  name  a  high  salary,  thinking  to  be  turned  down.  I  asked 
$10  a  week,  and  was  astonished  when  the  proprietor,  Mr.  Bushnell, 


FRANK  W.  WOOLWORTH  429 

said,  'All  right,  when  will  you  commence?'  I  took  the  job,  and  on 
this  big  salary  I  felt  justified  in  getting  married. 

"However,  I  found  conditions  at  this  store  very  different  and  very 
distasteful.  I  tried  to  trim  up  the  store  to  make  it  look  attractive 
and  also  dressed  the  windows.  Once,  when  I  had  spent  a  lot  of  time 
to  make  a  really  good  show  with  the  windows,  Mr.  Bushnell,  instead 
of  being  pleased,  reprimanded  me,  saying,  'Take  it  all  out.  We 
don't  want  any  windows  trimmed,  here.'  I  was  told  to  confine  my- 
self to  selling  goods.     This,  of  course,  was  my  weakest  spot. 

"After  I  had  been  there  a  couple  of  months  he  met  me  in  the  base- 
ment one  day — I  had  to  sleep  in  the  basement,  with  another  young 
fellow,  armed,  with  revolvers,  to  protect  the  store  from  burglars. 
He  unceremoniously  told  me  there  were  boys  getting  ^6  a  week  who 
sold  more  goods  than  I  did,  and  that  he  could  not  continue  paying 
me  $10  a  week.  I  asked  if  it  would  not  be  a  good  idea  to  keep  the 
store  in  attractive,  shape  and  display  the  goods  to  the  best  advantage 
so  as  to  attract,  customers.  I  told  him  I  could  do  that  kind  of  work. 
But  he  replied,  'I  don't  want  you  to  do  anything  but  sell  goods, 
nothing  else.' 

"He  cut  my  pay  to  $8. 

"This  was  a  terrible  blow.  I  found  I  was  up  against  a  Cold,  cold 
world.  I  thought  Moore  &  Smith  had  been  hard  on  me,  but  they 
were  angels  compared  to  this  man  Bushnell.  I  was  almost  tempted 
to  give  up.  I  became  terribly  depressed.  I  wrote  a  pitiful  letter  to 
my  mother.  She  sent  me  in  reply  the  most  lovely  letter  any  one  ever 
penned.  She  finished  up  many  encouraging  assurances  with  this 
sentence:  'Some  day,  my  son,  you  will  be  a  rich  man.'  Although  I 
felt  sure  she  didn't  believe  that  any  more  than  I  did,  somehow  the 
expression  of  her  faith  in  me  buoyed  me  up.  I  kept  up  the  depressing 
struggle  until  I  was  near  death's  door  from  sickness.  When  fever 
came  on  top  of  nervous  prostration  I  was  almost  given  up  for  dead. 
For  a  whole  year  I  was  at  home  unable  to  do  a  stroke  of  work.  Dur- 
ing this  period  of  poor  health  I  became  convinced  that  I  was  not  fitted 
for  mercantile  life. 

"About  the  time  I  recovered  my  strength  a  man  who  owned  a 
little  four-acre  farm  was  so  anxious  to  sell  out  that  he  let  me  have  it 
for  $900.  I  had  no  money  but  raised  a  ^600  mortgage  and  gave  him 
my  note  for  the  other  $300.  My  wife  and  I  began  raising  chickens, 
potatoes,  and  everything  we  could  see  a  dollar  in  to  make  ends  meet. 
After  we  had  struggled  along  for  about  four  months,  I  received  a 
call  from  Moore  &  Smith  to  come  and  see  them.  Right  off  the  reel 
they  offered  me  $\o  a  week.  They  said  they  wanted  to  have  me 
back  to  tone  up  the  store. 

"This  was  positively  the  first  recognition  I  had  ever  received  for 


430  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

the  hard  work  I  had  put  in.  It  revived  my  confidence  remarkably. 
I  felt  that  my  work  had  begun  to  bear  fruit.  The  return  of  my 
strength  also  had  something  to  do  with  the  return  of  my  former  de- 
termination to  succeed,  I  suppose.  My  wife  remained  on  the  farm 
for  a  time,  with  visits  from  me  about  every  two  weeks  until  we  rented 
the  place  and  took  a  three-room  home  in  Watertown.  At  the  end 
of  the  first  year  we  had  saved  $50  in  addition  to  having  lent  my  father, 
who  was  very  hard-up,  $20,  and  also  after  having  paid  the  doctor's 
bills  and  everything  else  incidental  to  the  birth  of  our  first  baby. 
Yes,  it  called  for  frugal  management — no  luxuries,  no  entertain- 
ments, no  shows,  no  vacations.  I  worked  in  the  store  from  seven 
in  the  morning  till  ten  every  night.  I  kept  on  working  in  this  store 
from  then  (1877)  until  I  opened  my  first  5-cent  store  at  Utica, 
New  York,  on  February  22,  1879. 

"The  rest  of  my  story  is  well  known." 

Mr.  Woolworth's  trials  were  not  to  take  wing  the  moment  he  hung 
out  his  shingle.  How  he  came  to  take  this  step  is  worth  recording. 
A  visitor  from  the  West  told  Moore  &  Smith,  in  1878,  that  "5-cent 
sales"  were  proving  extremely  successful  in  a  store  out  there  and 
advised  the  Watertown  firm  to  get  together  as  many  low-priced 
articles  as  possible  from  old  stock,  mix  them  with  some  new  goods 
bought  specially  for  the  purpose,  make  a  display  of  them,  and  advertise 
that  any  article  in  the  whole  collection  could  be  bought  for  5  cents. 
Mr.  Moore  went  to  New  York,  bought  less  than  $100  worth  of  5-cent 
articles,  waited  until  the  Fair  Week  and  then  announced  the  unique 
sale — Mr.  Woolworth  still  possesses  a  copy  of  the  handbill  advertising 
the  sale.  Sewing-machine  tables,  other  tables,  and  counters  were 
heaped  with  such  a  collection  of  goods  as  Watertown  had  never  before 
seen.  In  a  few  hours  there  wasn't  a  single  article  left.  The  experi- 
ment was  repeated  on  the  following  Saturday  and  soon  the  "5-cent 
sale"  craze  was  raging  not  only  in  Watertown,  but  was  spreading  to 
other  towns.     Dozens  of  men  saw  in  this  a  quick  road  to  fortune. 

Mr.  Moore,  who  by  this  time  had  come  to  have  a  high  regard  for 
Woolworth,  advised  the  clerk  to  look  around  for  a  suitable  location 
and  start  a  5-cent  store.  When  Mr.  Woolworth  explained  that  he 
did  not  have  the  necessary  capital,  Mr.  Moore  agreed  to  accept  his 
note  for  $300  worth  of  goods,  and  the  first  Woolworth  store  contained 
exactly  ^321  worth  of  5-cent  articles — the  lo-cent  end  of  the  business 
was  added  later. 

The  store  proved  a  failure.  The  craze,  much  overdone,  was  be- 
ginning to  peter  out.  On  returning  from  Utica  with  little  but  bitter 
experience  for  his  adventure,  Mr.  Woolworth  felt  that  there  was  no- 
thing for  him  to  do  but  resume  work  with  Moore  &  Smith.  Mr.  Moore 
again  backed  him  up,  however,  and  this  time  Lancaster,  Pa,,  was 


FRANK  W.  WOOLWORTH  431 

chosen  by  Woolworth.  From  the  moment  the  doors  were  opened 
the  store  proved  a  success. 

Before  long  one  after  another  of  the  5-cent  stores  which  had  sprung 
into  existence  all  over  that  part  of  the  country  failed.  In  time 
Frank  W.  Woolworth  was  the  only  man  remaining  in  the  field.  He 
alone  had  grit  enough,  ability  enough,  and  foresight  enough  to  hold 
on.  The  spirit  which  animated  him  to  work  gratis  in  the  grocery 
store  in  the  freight  shed;  to  work  three  months,  also,  without  pay 
in  Watertown;  and  to  reenter  the  mercantile  business  notwith- 
standing his  early  experiences,  inspired  him  not  to  admit  defeat  now 
even  though  every  one  else  had  gone  under. 

He  opened  a  store  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  in  June,  1879,  very  shortly 
after  the  opening  of  the  Lancaster  store,  installing  his  brother,  C.  S. 
Woolworth,  as  manager.  This  venture  was  unprofitable  and  soon  was 
dropped.  But  Woolworth  now  was  more  confident  than  ever 
that  he  had  discovered  his  life's  work  and  that  his  mother's  pre- 
diction might  yet  be  fulfilled. 

"By  the  middle  of  1880  I  was  so  rich  that  I  decided  to  take  the 
first  vacation  I  ever  enjoyed,"  Mr.  Woolworth  told  me  reminiscently. 
"  I  was  worth  $2,000,  which  looked  bigger  to  me  then  than  $20,000,000 
would  now.  In  fact,  I  felt  quite  as  rich  then  as  I  do  now  because  I 
had  the  consciousness  and  the  satisfaction  of  having  made  a  success  in 
business.  I  visited  old  Watertown  and  was  received  as  something  of  a 
hero." 

On  returning  to  Lancaster  he  felt  he  must  find  another  position 
for  his  brother,  so  he'installed  him  in  a  5-  and  lo-cent  store  in  Scran- 
ton,  Pa. — and  the  brother,  now  a  millionaire,  is  there  yet.  After  a 
while  Mr.  Woolworth's  ambition  led  him  to  invade  Philadelphia, 
but  at  the  end  of  three  months  there  was  a  loss  of  $380  and  he  with- 
drew. 

Thus  three  out  of  the  first  five  stores  opened  by  Woolworth  proved 
failures.  This  would  have  cowed  the  spirit  of  enterprise  in  most  men. 
But  Woolworth  was  not  made  of  the  average  stuff.  When  his  cousin, 
•Seymour  H.  Knox,  came  to  him  in  the  following  year  (1882)  and 
wanted  to  go  into  business,  Woolworth  arranged  to  become  a  fifty- 
fifty  partner  with  him  at  Reading,  Pa.  The  store  then  opened  is 
running  to-day  at  the  same  old  location.  Knox  died  two  years  ago, 
a  multi-millionaire.  Once  again  Woolworth  invaded  Harrisburg  and 
the  store  there,  also  opened  on  a  partnership  basis  with  another  man, 
is  still  booming.  Trenton,  N.  J.,  was  tapped  on  the  same  basis. 
By  having  a  partner  in  each  store  Mr.  Woolworth  found  that  he  could 
depend  upon  the  business  being  properly  attended,  and  this  principle 
he  carried  out  in  store  after  store. 

Becoming  anxious  to  tackle  big  cities  despite  his  experience  in 


432  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Philadelphia,  he  opened  a  large  store  in  Newark,  but  it  also  had  to 
be  closed  after  an  unsuccessful  run  of  six  months.  Elmira,  N.  Y., 
also  refused  to  warm  up  to  the  5-  and  lo-cent  idea. 

Failure  also  befell  an  attempt  Mr.  Woolworth  made  to  establish 
a  chain  of  25-cent  stores.  First  Reading  and  then  Lancaster  rejected 
this  innovation  so  emphatically  that  he  decided  to  stick  to  nickel  and 
dime  transactions.  By  this  time  he  had  been  inured  to  reverses. 
Like  Europe's  army  generals,  he  tried  to  find  an  opening  here  and 
there  all  along  the  line  and  when  opposition  at  one  point  was  found 
too  strong  he  simply  sought  another  line  of  less  resistance. 

It  was  in  1886  that  Mr.  Woolworth  opened,  not  a  store,  but  a  tiny 
office  in  New  York,  at  104  Chambers  Street,  at  ^25  a  month  rent. 
Here  he  worked  night  and  day,  doing  all  his  own  bookkeeping,  buying 
goods  for  all  his  stores,  travelling  all  over  the  country  to  inspect 
promising  locations,  and  personally  answering  all  his  correspondence. 
Since  his  first  breakdown  his  health  had  never  recovered  fully,  and 
at  the  time  he  was  running  his  New  York  office  single-handed  his 
weight  fell  off  to  135  pounds,  although  he  was  a  large-framed  man  of 
more  than  average  height.  While  in  the  thick  of  his  fight  for  success 
he  was  stricken  with  typhoid  fever  and  for  eight  weeks  was  unable  to 
attend  to  business. 

"This  experience  taught  me  a  lesson,"  said  Mr.  Woolworth.  "Up 
till  then  I  thought  I  must  attend  to  everything  myself.  But  I  indulged 
in  the  luxury  of  a  bookkeeper  and  I  also,  at  great  effort,  broke  myself 
of  the  conceit  that  I  could  buy  goods,  display  goods,  run  stores,  and 
do  everything  else  more  efficiently  than  any  man  associated  with  me. 
That  really  marked  the  beginning  of  my  success  and  enabled  me  to 
expand  in  a  large  way.  From  then  on  I  confined  my  attention  to 
important  matters,  to  looking  ahead,  thinking  up  new  plans,  giving 
instructions  to  other  people,  placing  responsibilities  on  them,  and 
contenting  myself  with  general  supervision  of  the  conduct  of  the 
business.  So  many  thousands  of  merchants  never  get  over  the  con- 
ceit that  they  must  do  everything  themselves,  with  the  result  that 
they  straggle  along  in  one  little  store. 

"A  business  is  like  a  snowball:  one  man  can  easily  push  it  along 
for  a  while  but  the  snowball  becomes  so  large  if  pushed  ahead  that 
help  must  be  obtained  to  roll  it — and  if  you  don't  keep  rolling  it,  it 
will  soon  melt.  No  business  can  stand  stationary  for  any  considerable 
period;  it  either  rises  or  falls,  and,  if  left  to  Itself;  the  tendency  Is  for 
it  to  fall. 

"In  the  first  ten  years,  from  1879  to  1889,  I  opened  only  twelve 
stores,  but  I  found  that  the  greater  the  volume  the  cheaper  I  could 
buy  and  the  better  value  I  could  give  customers.  I  would  not  go 
into  debt,  however,  and  this  alone  prevented  my  activities  equalling 


FRANK  W.  WOOLWORTH  433 

my  ambitions.  In  1895  we  opened  up  our  first  huge  store,  in  Brook- 
lyn, and  it  became  profitable  from  the  start.  Then  we  went  to 
Washington  and  Philadelphia  and  Boston  and  entered  New  York 
within  a  week  of  opening  in  Boston,  in  October,  1896.  Some  of  my 
associates  thought  I  was  crazy  to  take  on  such  tremendous  responsi- 
bilities, but  I  did  not  feel  that  way  about  it.  In  1904  we  invaded 
the  West,  with  headquarters  in  Chicago.  In  1905  we  incorporated 
as  a  private  corporation  with  $10,000,000  capital  and  in  191 2,  when 
we  had  some  300  stores,  we  combined  with  S.  H.  Knox  &  Company, 
F.  M.  Kirby  &  Company,  E.  P.  Charlton  &  Company,  C.  S.  Wool- 
worth,  and  W.  H.  Moore,  giving  us  a  total  of  600  stores." 

It  was  characteristic  of  Mr.  Woolworth's  keen  sense  of  gratitude 
toward  those  who  had  befriended  him  in  his  days  of  hardship  that  he 
made  his  aged  first  employer,  W.  H.  Moore,  an  honorary  vice- 
president  of  the  $65,000,000  F.  W.  Woolworth  Company.  Both  Mr. 
Moore  and  Mr.  Smith  were  a  great  help  to  him  in  his  start  and  they 
always  remained  his  best  friends. 

European  possibilities  were  surveyed  by  Mr.  Woolworth  in  1909 
and  he  spent  the  whole  summer  there  organizing  stores  in  the  principal 
cities  of  Britain.  Inasmuch  as  Mr.  Woolworth  regards  the  whole 
world  as  his  field,  the  future  will  probably  bring  great  developments 
of  the  Woolworth  business  overseas. 

These  few  figures  show  the  growth  of  the  F.  W.  Woolworth  Com- 
pany: 

NUMBER   OF         SALES   FOR 
STORES  YEAR 

Dec.  31,  1912 611  $60,557,767 

"        "     I913 684  66,228,072 

"      "    1914 737  69,619,669 

"      "    191S 805  75.995,774 

"  1916 920  87,089,270 

Was  there  ever  such  a  romance  of  nickels  and  dimes? 

"Why  did  you  spend  so  much  money  in  putting  up  the  highest 
building  in  the  world?"  I  asked  Mr.  Woolworth. 

"For  several  reasons.  Did  you  know  that  the  children's  school 
books  tell  them  about  the  world's  highest  building?"  Mr.  Woolworth 
replied  with  a  significant  smile.  "My  secretary  recently  received  a 
postcard  from  the  Pacific  Coast  addressed  simply:  'The  Highest 
Building  In  The  World,'  and  a  letter  was  received  from  Germany 
once  with  nothing  but  the  party's  name  and  'Woolworth  Building' — 
no  city  or  country  was  mentioned.  I  noticed  once  in  a  trade  paper 
in  Europe  that  America  was  typified  by  a  picture  of  the  Woolworth 


434  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Building,  without  even  the  name  of  the  building  being  given.  Per- 
haps my  idea  was  not  quite  so  foolish  as  most  people  imagine." 

Woolworth's  desire  to  overtop  every  other  building  in  the  world, 
his  ambition  to  cover  the  whole  earth  with  his  stores,  his  triumph 
after  countless  obstacles  have  been  partly  inspired  by  his  boundless 
admiration  for  "The  Little  Corsican" — Mr.  Woolworth's  private 
office,  indeed,  is  an  elaborate  copy  of  Napoleon's  "Empire  Room" 
and  contains  the  famous  clock  and  many  other  original  articles  which 
adorned  that  historic  room,  the  whole  forming  an  office  which  in 
grandeur  eclipses  anything  else  in  the  land.  In  his  palatial  home  on 
Fifth  Avenue,  New  York,  Mr.  Woolworth  has  installed  the  most 
wonderful  musical  contrivances  ever  created  and  spends  many  even- 
ings entertaining  his  friends  in  his  unique  music  room. 

Amply  fulfilled  has  been  his  mother's  prophecy:  "Some  day,  my 
son,  you  will  be  a  rich  man."  In  memory  of  her  and  his  father, 
Mr.  Woolworth  has  built  and  endowed  the  Woolworth  Memorial 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  Great  Bend,  N.  Y. 

Mr.  Woolworth  in  1876  married  Miss  Jennie  Creighton  of  Water- 
town,  N.  Y.,  and  had  three  daughters,  Mrs.  Charles  E.  F.  McCann, 
the  late  Mrs.  Franklyn  L.  Hutton,  and  Mrs.  James  P.  Donahue. 

Frank  W.  Woolworth's  record  is  worthy  of  America,  is  it  not? 


JOHN  D.  ARCHBOLD 


JOHN  D.  A^CHBOLD 

[John  D.  Archhold  died  on  December  5,  igi6,  just  after  this  sketch 

was  written] 

SCENE   I 

A  LITTLE  Ohio  lad,  only  twelve,  hungry  for  knowledge  but 
poor  in  pocket,  volunteers  to  light  the  fires  in  the  local 
school  and  do  chores  around  the  schoolhouse  if  the  head 
master  will  teach  him  Latin  in  the  evenings.  His  father  is  dead,  his 
widowed  mother  needs  support,  and  after  only  one  year  of  chores 
by  morning  and  special  study  by  night,  he  is  sent  to  work  in  a  village 
store. 

SCENE    II 

At  sixteen  the  lad,  fired  with  ambition  and  totally  unafraid,  emi- 
grates to  Pennsylvania  to  join  in  the  melee  which  the  discovery  of  oil 
had  started  there.  He  arrives  at  Titusville,  the  centre  of  the  excite- 
ment, without  a  friend  to  give  him  counsel  or  aid,  and  with  few 
dollars  in  his  pocket.  He  starts  a  search  for  work.  He  is  a  little  fellow 
for  his  years,  a  mere  slip  of  a  schoolboy,  but  he  finds  a  job  as  office- 
boy,  or  clerk,  with  an  oil  firm. 

SCENE   III 

From  eleven  to  one  o'clock  every  day  there  gathers  around  a  huge 
table  in  the  best-knov,-n  business  building  in  New  York  a  group  of 
directors  whose  activities  and  interests  transcend  those  of  any  other 
directorate  in  the  world.  The  business  built  up  and  handled  by  these 
men  and  their  predecessors  covers  every  civilized  and  nearly  every 
uncivilized  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Their  organization  has 
been  and  is  the  greatest  wonder  of  the  industrial  and  commercial 
world.  In  the  days  of  small  units  it  became  a  large  unit.  It  had 
learned  and  had  practised  efficiency  before  Bismarck  had  finished 
his  work  of  v/elding  German}'  into  one  great,  efficient  nation.  When 
others  were  content  with  local  and  domestic  business,  it  created  a 
national  and  an  international  business.  When  others  were  satisfied 
with  picayune  processes  and  appliances  it  evolved  costly  scientific 

43S 


436  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

methods  and  colossal  plants.  It  developed  its  own  transportation 
facilities  by  land  and  by  sea — to-day  one  of  its  companies  alone  has 
one  of  the  greatest  fleets  of  steamers  in  operation  or  under  construction 
in  America,  over  fifty  of  them,  plying  to  every  important  port  of  the 
seven  seas,  while  its  allied  companies  also  have  large  fleets.  Its  sales 
to  foreign  nations  have  brought  to  this  country  several  billions  of 
dollars  and  are  still  bringing  in  a  stream  of  gold  for  the  sustenance  of 
American  workmen,  American  homes,  and  American  enterprises. 
It  has  disbursed  in  dividends  hundreds  of  millions  to  many  thou- 
sands of  stockholders — 40  per  cent,  was  the  usual  rate  before  "dis- 
solution"— and  the  market  valuation  of  the  parent  enterprise  and  its 
ofFshots  exceeds  $2,000,000,000. 

At  the  head  of  the  table  where  the  destinies  of  this  vast  organization 
are  daily  shaped  sits  and  has  sat  for  years  the  Ohio  lad  who  volun- 
teered to  kindle  school  fires  and  do  chores  to  earn  lessons  in  Latin 
and  who,  at  sixteen,  went  out  to  fight  the  world  unafraid  and  alone. 

He  is  John  D.  Archbold,  president  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company 
of  New  Jersey. 

"Had  you  any  idea  when  you  first  struck  the  oil  fields  that  one 
day  you  might  attain  something  like  your  present  position?  Had 
you  big  ambitions?"  I  asked  Mr.  Archbold. 

"I  always  was  full  of  ambition,"  he  replied.  "In  my  case  it  was 
quickened  by  necessity.  My  father  was  a  Methodist  preacher  and 
died  when  I  was  eleven,  leaving  us  as  poor  as  preachers  usually  leave 
their  families.  My  eldest  brother  was  also  a  preacher  and  teacher, 
with  a  family  of  his  own,  so  he  couldn't  help  as  much  as  he  would 
have  liked.  My  second  brother  had  joined  the  army  on  the  outbreak 
of  the  War  between  the  States.  So  I  was  anxious  to  do  something 
for  my  mother." 

The  little  fire-lighting-Latin  incident  reveals  that  thus  early  he  had 
acumen  enough  to  realize  how  best  to  fit  himself  to  be  of  use. 

He  was  born  in  Leesburg,  O.,  on  July  26,  1848,  to  which  state  his 
maternal  grandfather.  Colonel  William  Dana,  had  gone  from  Massa- 
chusetts in  a  prairie-schooner.  Ohio  was  not  then  threaded  with 
railroads,  studded  with  manufactories,  or  dotted  with  towns.  Only 
daring  pioneers  had  ventured  so  far  west  in  those  days — toward  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Israel  Archbold,  father  of  John 
Dustin,  was  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  it  is  remarkable  how  strongly 
the  son  has  inherited  and  preserved  the  polite,  soft-speaking,  attrac- 
tive characteristics  and  manners  of  old  Southern  families. 

His  first  job  was  as  boy-of-all-work  in  a  store  in  the  village  of 
Salem,  O.,  not  far  from  Leesburg.  But  though  his  working  hours, 
as  was  the  universal  custom  then,  ran  more  than  a  full  round  of  the 
clock  every  day,  he  contrived  to  keep  up  his  studies.     His  vision  even 


JOHN  D.  ARCHBOLD  437 

then  extended  beyond  the  cramped  horizon  of  a  country  store.  He 
assiduously  cultivated  self-improvement.  His  teacher  had  often 
during  the  private  sessions  in  the  evening  impressed  upon  him  that 
education  was  one  of  the  essential  weapons  for  the  battle  of  life 
and  took  special  pains  to  help  the  bright,  persevering  lad. 

A  diligent  reader  of  the  few  newspapers  he  could  lay  his  hands  on, 
the  alluring  stories  of  fortunes  being  made  overnight  in  the  newly 
developed  oil  fields  of  Pennsylvania  stirred  his  imagination  and  ap- 
pealed to  his  ambition.  The  output  of  crude  petroleum  had  jumped 
from  less  than  2,cxx3  barrels  for  the  whole  country  in  1859  to  over 
2,200,000  barrels  in  1864  and  had  sold  at  more  than  ^12  a  barrel,  with 
refined  selling  at  65  cents  a  gallon  in  New  York.  (The  price  now, 
for  a  vastly  superior  article,  in  bulk,  is  about  five  cents  a  gallon.) 

Although  his  weekly  wages  as  a  grocery  boy  had  gone  up  from 
only  $1.50  when  he  started  to  ^5  in  the  next  two  or  three  years,  he 
had  lived  so  frugally  that,  in  addition  to  what  he  had  contributed  to 
the  family  support,  he  had  saved  something  like  $100  before  he  was 
sixteen. 

He  would  boldly  set  out  for  the  new  El  Dorado  in  William  Penn's 
country! 

It  was  a  venturesome  stroke  for  a  boy  of  sixteen,  especially  one 
under  rather  than  over  average  physical  proportions.  But  young 
Archbold  had  certain  pronounced  qualities.  He  had  unquestioning 
self-confidence.  His  courage  was  so  great  that  it  left  no  room  for 
fear  or  doubt.  He  was  eflPervescent  with  enthusiasm.  The  spirit  of 
adventure  which  had  spurred  his  grandparent  to  penetrate  into  the 
far-off  wilds  of  Ohio  had  descended  to  the  grandchild.  Also,  there 
was  in  him  the  embryo  of  what  was  to  develop  into  his  most  conspicu- 
ous quality:  ability  to  grasp  with  lightning  rapidity  the  possibilities 
of  a  new  situation  and  to  shape  his  course  accordingly. 

Titusville  had  sprung  up  as  the  metropolis  of  the  Pennsylvania 
oil  boom.  To  Titusville  Archbold  went  in  June,  1864,  prepared  to 
tackle  anything  connected  with  the  oil  industry. 

He  succeeded  in  getting  a  modest  position  in  the  office  of  William 
H.  Abbott,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  reputable  oil-dealing  houses 
in  the  whole  territory. 

In  three  years,  before  he  was  nineteen  years  of  age,  he  was  admitted 
into  partnership. 

Why.?  Not  because  of  "pull";  for  Archbold  had  not  even  an  ac- 
quaintance when  he  entered  the  region.  Not  because  of  his  money; 
for  his  savings,  all  but  ^1,000,  had  gone  to  buy  his  mother  a  home  of 
her  own  in  Salem,  and  to  send  his  young  sister  to  college.  Not  be- 
cause of  his  age,  for  he  looked  even  younger  than  his  nineteen  years. 

John  Dustin  Archbold  had  done  in  the  oil  industry  what  Charles  M. 


438  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

Schwab  did  in  steel,  what  James  J.  Hill  did  in  railroading,  what 
Charles  F.  Brooker  did  in  brass,  what  Frank  A.  Vanderlip  did  in 
banking,  what  Theodore  N.  Vail  did  in  telephony,  what  Thomas  A. 
Edison  did  in  electricity,  what,  in  short,  every  conspicuously  success- 
ful man  has  done,  namely,  ripped  off  his  coat,  jumped  into  the  arena, 
and  applied  both  head  and  hands  day  and  night  in  studying  his  busi- 
ness from  base  to  copestone  until  master  of  both  theory  and  practice, 
familiar  with  its  every  angle  and  quick  to  devise  improved  methods 
and  to  create  wider  opportunities. 

Archbold,  the  office  assistant,  did  not  sit  contentedly  on  a  high 
stool  scratching  figures  and  keeping  his  collar  and  his  fingers  clean. 
He  tramped  through  oozing  oil  fields  and  mud  holes  up  to  his  thighs. 
He  learned  on  the  spot  how  oil  wells  were  drilled,  how  the  crude 
fluid  was  caught,  how  it  was  refined.  He  studied  very  specially  the 
transportation  problems.  There  were  no  pipe  lines  in  those  days; 
the  oil  had  to  be  transported  in  barrels,  teams  dragging  loads  to  the 
railroad  where  it  was  shipped  to  New  York  and  other  points.  Further- 
more, young  Archbold  applied  himself  to  analyzing  "indications" 
and  became  something  of  an  expert  in  this  important  Hne.  He 
quickly  learned,  also,  how  to  sell. 

William  H.  Abbott  therefore  knew  what  he  was  doing  when  he 
took  the  nineteen-year-old  hustler  into  partnership. 

A  year  later  H.  B.  Porter,  who  had  been  admitted  into  the  firm, 
became  largely  interested  in  a  refinery  at  Titusville  and  the  firm's 
business  expanded  so  greatly  that  it  was  decided  to  open  a  selling 
agency  in  New  York. 

Although  only  twenty,  Mr.  Archbold  was  selected  for  this  important 
post.  He  opened  offices  in  the  metropolis  and  handled  not  only  the 
oil  of  his  own  concern  but  the  product  of  a  number  of  others,  and 
built  up  a  very  extensive  business. 

Marketing  oil  was  not  child's  play  in  those  exciting  days.  Oil 
exchanges  wiere  opened  in  a  dozen  cities  and  the  gambling  done  in 
oil  certificates  in  New  York  and  elsewhere  eclipsed  the  speculation 
in  securities.  Fluctuations  were  sensational — "war  stocks"  have 
not  gyrated  more  sensationally  on  the  Stock  Exchange  during  the 
European  cataclysm.  For  example,  the  monthly  average  price 
ranged  from  $4  to  more  than  $12  in  1864,  from  $1.95  to  above  $5  in 
1868,  and  from  about  $3  to  $4.50  in  1870,  the  year  Mr.  Archbold  began 
business  in  New  York.  His  all-round  grasp  of  the  trade,  his  exhaus- 
tive knowledge  of  transportation  facilities,  his  faculty  for  making 
friends — Mr.  Archbold  is  noted  for  his  ready  wit  and  unfailing  humour 
— enabled  him  to  more  than  hold  his  own  with  men  twice  and  three 
times  his  age. 

Mr.  Archbold  believed  that  oil  should  command  $4  a  barrel,  and 


JOHN  D.  ARCHBOLD  439 

that  he  could  not  always  get  that  price  was  no  fault  of  his.  fhe  year 
1872,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  the  last  one  in  which  crude  oil  was  to 
touch  Archbold's  favourite  figure — it  sold  temporarily  as  low  as 
20  cents  a  barrel  when  enormous  new  discoveries  glutted  the  market. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  another  and  more  famous  John  D. 
met  John  D.  Archbold.  Mr.  Rockefeller,  already  a  notable  factor 
in  the  petroleum  industry,  had  come  from  the  Middle  West  to  Penn- 
sylvania, and  the  wideawake  Archbold  was  on  the  ground  to  meet 
him;  in  fact,  Mr.  Archbold  arranged  a  little  dinner  in  honour  of  the  oil 
magnate's  visit.  Mr.  Rockefeller  himself  has  given  a  description 
of  this  famous  meeting. 

"It  is  not  always  possible,"  he  says,  "to  remember  just  how  one 
met  an  old  friend  or  what  one's  impressions  were,  but  I  shall  never 
forget  my  first  meeting  with  Mr.  John  D.  Archbold. 

"At  that  time  I  was  travelling  about  the  country,  visiting  the  points 
where  something  was  happening,  talking  with  the  producers,  the 
refiners,  the  agents,  and  actually  getting  acquainted. 

"One  day  there  was  a  gathering  of  the  men  somewhere  near  the 
oil  regions,  and  when  I  came  to  the  hotel,  which  was  full  of  oil  men, 
I  saw  this  name  writ  large  on  the  register: 

"'John  D.  Archbold,  $4.  a  bbl.' 

"He  was  a  young  and  enthusiastic  fellow,  so  full  of  his  subject 
that  he  added  his  slogan  '$4.  a  bbl.'  after  his  signature  on  the  register, 
that  no  one  might  misunderstand  his  convictions.  The  battle  cry 
of  '^4  a  barrel'  was  all  the  more  striking  because  crude  oil  was  selling 
then  for  much  less,  and  this  campaign  for  a  higher  price  certainly  did 
attract  attention — ^it  was  much  too  good  to  be  true.  But  if  Mr.  Arch- 
bold had  to  admit  in  the  end  that  crude  oil  is  not  worth  '$4.  a  bbl.,* 
his  enthusiasm,  his  energy,  and  his  splendid  power  over  men  have 
lasted. 

"He  has  always  had  a  well-developed  sense  of  humour,  and  on 
one  occasion,  when  he  was  on  the  witness  stand,  he  was  asked  by  the 
opposing  lawyer: 

"'Mr.  Archbold,  are  you  a  director  of  this  company?* 

"'I  am.' 

"'What  is  your  occupation  in  this  company?' 

"He  promptly  answered:  'To  clamour  for  dividends,*  which  led 
the  learned  counsel  to  start  afresh  on  another  line. 

"I  can  never  cease  to  wonder  at  his  capacity  for  hard  work." 

It  was  natural  for  Mr.  Rockefeller,  with  his  almost  superhuman 
judgment  in  selecting  colleagues,  to  have  "spotted"  Archbold. 
Indeed,  the  Standard  Oil  people  had  found  in  him  a  combatant  of 
exceptional  vigour.  Negotiations  were  opened  and  Mr.  Archbold 
joined  the  Rockefeller  interests  in  1875.     He  was  by  then  president 


440  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

of  the  Acme  Oil  Company  and  one  of  its  principal  stockholders.  In 
the  fall  of  that  year  he  was  elected  a  director  of  the  Standard  Oil 
Company.  Shortly  after  he  was  chosen  as  its  vice-president  and 
remained  in  that  capacity  until  191 1,  when  he  was  selected  as  presi- 
dent. 

An  instance  of  Mr.  Archbold's  foresightedness  was  supplied  in 
1899  when,  in  giving  testimony  before  the  Industrial  Commission, 
he  urged  federal  charters  for  corporations.  "Lack  of  uniformity  in 
the  laws  of  various  states  as  affecting  business  corporations,  is  one 
of  the  vexatious  features  attending  the  business  life  of  any  great 
corporation  to-day,"  he  said,  "and  I  suggest  for  your  most  careful 
consideration  the  thought  of  a  federal  corporation  law." 

"I  am  more  convinced  than  ever  that  this  is  the  only  and  the  in- 
evitable solution,"  Mr.  Archbold  reiterated  to  me. 

That  this  is  coming  few  clear-headed  citizens  can  doubt.  The  im- 
possibility of  serving  forty-eight  masters  is  becoming  more  evident 
every  year.  Had  such  legislation  been  passed  there  would  have  been 
few  "dissolution  suits"  by  the  Government,  and  the  Standard  Oil 
Company  probably  would  not  have  been  subjected  to  a  prosecution 
which  has  accomplished  worse  than  nothing. 

Mr.  Archbold's  place  in  the  oil  industry  is  second  only  to  that  of 
John  D.  Rockefeller.  That  is  the  verdict  of  those  best  able  to  judge. 
His  name  is  not  so  popularly  known  because  of  his  extraordinary 
antipathy  to  appearing  in  public.  Less  has  been  written  about  the 
career  of  John  D.  Archbold  than  about  that  of  any  other  American 
industrial  leader  of  equal  achievement.  There  are  more  facts  in  this 
sketch  than  have  ever  before  been  published  about  him.  I  have 
known  and  interviewed  many  men  in  many  countries;  I  have 
never  met  one  more  diffident  or  more  anxious  to  avoid  talking  for 
publication. 

"My  life  has  been  too  prosaic  for  your  purpose,"  he  parried.  "I 
have  simply  been  interested  in  the  development  of  the  resources  of 
the  country  and  the  expansion  of  its  trade  at  home  and  abroad.  I 
have  not  found  much  time  to  be  interested  in  other  things." 

As  a  matter  of  fact  Mr.  Archbold  has  interested  himself  in  other 
things.  He  is  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Syracuse  Univer- 
sity, an  institution  which  has  prospered  so  remarkably  since  his  con- 
nection with  It  that  its  student  roll  has  increased  from  hundreds  to 
over  4,000,  including  1,500  young  women,  placing  it  in  the  ranks  of 
the  foremost  institutions  of  learning  in  the  United  States.  He  erected 
the  present  building  of  the  New  York  Kindergarten  in  memory  of  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Frances  Dana  Archbold  Walcott,  and  endowed  it. 
He  is  a  director  of  St.  Christopher's  Home  and  Orphanage  in  New 
York  and  is  known  to  have  contributed  generously  to  its  support. 


JOHN  D.  ARCHBOLD  441 

He  has  interested  himself,  also,  in  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art 
and  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History. 

His  friends  describe  him  as  one  of  the  best  story-tellers  to  be  met 
in  a  day's  march,  as  a  wit  who  can  see  the  funny  side  of  most  situa- 
tions, and  as  a  philanthropist  who  conceals  from  his  left  hand  what 
his  right  hand  does. 

Talking  of  hands  recalls  an  incident  described  thus  in  the  news- 
papers: 

While  coming  down  the  Hudson  in  his  yacht  Vixen  in  May,  191 1, 
Mr.  Archbold  lost  the  best  hand  he  ever  held  at  bridge  and  saved  two 
oarsmen  who  were  struggling  in  the  water.  The  Vixen  was  making 
her  fastest  speed  down  the  river  when  the  men  were  discovered,  and 
Mr.  Archbold  came  to  the  side,  holding  his  cards  in  his  hands.  He 
shouted  and  gesticulated,  and,  in  his  excitement,  released  the  cards, 
which  fluttered  overboard.  Under  his  direction  the  yacht  was  ma- 
noeuvred alongside  the  men,  who  were  hanging  on  to  their  shell,  and  a 
few  moments  later  they  were  dragged  on  board  and  their  shell  lifted 
in. 

"And  now,"  Mr.  Archbold  said  to  them,  *'I  am  at  your  service. 
Do  you  wish  to  come  with  me,  or  shall  I  go  back  with  you .''  And  in  the 
meantime  what  will  you  have.?'* 

The  oarsmen  were  taken  to  the  pier  of  the  Juanita  Boat  Club,  near 
Spuyten  Duyvil,  where  they  were  landed.  Before  going  ashore  they 
tried  to  thank  Mr.  Archbold,  but  he  would  have  none  of  it. 

"On  the  contrary,"  he  said,  "I  am  indebted  to  you  for  a  most 
satisfactory  afternoon — but  that  hand  of  cards  that  went  overboard 
v/as  the  best  I  ever  held." 

The  "tainted  money"  talk  drew  from  Mr.  Archbold  this  impas- 
sioned statement  in  an  address  he  delivered  in  1907  to  the  New  York 
Alumni  of  Syracuse  University,  a  reference  having  been  made  to  the 
subject  by  a  previous  speaker: 

"If  I  had  thought  for  one  moment  that  there  was  any  questionable 
taste  in  the  university  accepting  one  dollar  of  my  money,  I  would 
never  have  given  it  one  single  cent.  Every  cent  I  have  was  earned 
through  good,  hard,  honest  toil.  I  say  again,  if  my  conscience  were 
not  clear  that  I  had  honestly  earned  every  penny  I  possess  I  would 
never  have  offered  the  Syracuse  University  a  single  penny." 

Perhaps  it  is  Mr.  Archbold's  ability  to  extract  humour  from  the 
daily  round  of  life  that  has  enabled  him  to  remain  in  harness 
longer  than  any  other  of  the  original  Standard  Oil  notables.  He  is 
the  only  man  in  at  the  birth  of  the  Standard  Oil  Company  in  1882  who 
is  actively  engaged  in  directing  Standard  Oil  affairs  to-day.  Mr. 
Archbold  was  born  on  July  26,  1848.  He  married  Miss  Annie  Mills, 
daughter  of  S.  M.  Mills  of  Titusville,  in  1870  and  is  fond  of  describing 


442  MEN  WHO  ARE  MAKING  AMERICA 

this  as  one  of  the  wisest  things  he  ever  did.  He  has  two  surviving 
daughters  and  one  son,  John  F.  Archbold. 

He  still  works  hard  but  not  quite  such  long  hours  as  formerly.  His 
yacht  brings  him  down  every  morning  from  his  home  at  Cedar  Cliffs 
and  is  daily  pointed  out  to  sightseeing  parties. 

I  asked  an  elevator  runner  at  26  Broadway:  "What  sort  of  a  man  is 
Mr.  Archbold.?" 

He  looked  astonished,  as  much  as  to  say:  "You  surely  know  that." 
Then  he  spoke  four  words:     "The  nicest  man  ever." 

I  would  rather  have  the  employees'  estimate  of  a  big  man  than  the 
estimate  of  any  or  all  of  his  own  cronies  or  clubmates. 


In  his  will  Mr.  Archbold  left  }55oo,cxdo  to  Syracuse  University,  to 
which  during  his  lifetime,  it  develops,  he  had  given  ^6,000,000. 
That  he  had  given  about  ^^500,000  to  the  New  York  Kindergarten 
Association  in  addition  to  having  erected  and  endowed  its  building 
has  also  been  disclosed  by  the  beneficiaries,  who  on  his  death  passed  a 
resolution  in  which  he  was  described  as  "a  most  kind  friend  to  thou- 
sands of  little  boys  and  girls  who,  but  for  his  kindness  and  interest, 
would  have  had  less  fair  beginnings  in  their  lives." 

THE    END 


THE  COUNTRY  LIFE  PRESS 
GARDEN  QTY,  N.  Y. 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 

DATE  DUE 

fEB  1013^ 

MAR  1  2  mz 

CI  39 

UCSD  Libr. 

UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACIUTY 


A  A  001  399  540  2 


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